“卡本（carbone）”是一类弯曲的CL2型化合物，其中心碳原子保留自身的4个价电子并以两对孤对电子形式存在，是零价态的碳原子C(0)。卡本中心碳原子C(0)与具有σ-供电子能力的配体L通过配位键连接，分子结构可表示为L->C(0)<-L。因其特殊的电子结构特征，卡本可以作为比卡宾（如NHC）更强的σ-供电子配体，有可能成为催化化学领域一个新的生长点。本项目拟开展如下研究内容:（i）用先进的成键分析方法（如EDA、EDA-NOCV等）研究卡本的电子结构特征;（ii）优化设计新型卡本化合物，构建丰富的卡本配体库;（iii）研究卡本参与的化学反应机理，在分子水平上揭示反应高活性的根源;（iv）以计算化学为“实验”手段优化设计卡本催化剂并探索其在小分子活化（如H2、CO2、H2O、CH4、NH3等）及相关的催化转化方面的应用，发展新的催化方法。我们期望本项目的研究能进一步丰富和发展卡本化学。

"Carbone" features a bent structural CL2, which can be regarded as a 4-electron carbon center bearing two lone pairs of electrons with oxidation state zero, which can be regarded as C(0). The carbone center C(0) is flanked by two σ-donor ligands via two dative bonds, and thus can be formulated as L->C(0)<-L. The striking feature of carbone enable it as a stronger σ-donating ligand than carbene (e.g., NHC), and makes it as a possible new growth point in chemistry. This project focuses on the following contents: (i) fundamental investigation on electronic properties of carbones with state-of-the-art bonding analysis methods（e.g., EDA, EDA-NOCV, etc）; (ii) optimal design of new carbone species, building a diversified library of carbone ligands; (iii) computational mechanistic studies on the carbone-mediated reactions, disclose the origin of their high reactivity; (iv) use computational chemistry as "experimental" tool to design new carbone catalysts, which can be used in small molecule activations and following catalytic conversions, and develop new methods in catalysis. We expect that these studies will significantly help the enrichment and development of the carbone chemistry.