10.1021/jacs.9b05925.s003 Jamie Hicks Jamie Hicks Petra Vasko Petra Vasko Jose M. Goicoechea Jose M. Goicoechea Simon Aldridge Simon Aldridge Reversible, Room-Temperature CC Bond Activation of Benzene by an Isolable Metal Complex American Chemical Society 2019 petrochemical feedstocks hydrocarbon benzene activation Isolable Metal Complex NON reactive species room temperature functionalized acyclic products oxidative addition aluminium center bond 2019-06-28 00:00:00 Dataset https://acs.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Reversible_Room-Temperature_C_C_Bond_Activation_of_Benzene_by_an_Isolable_Metal_Complex/8613698 The activation of CC bonds is of fundamental interest in the construction of complex molecules from petrochemical feedstocks. In the case of the archetypal aromatic hydrocarbon benzene, CC cleavage is thermodynamically disfavored, and is brought about only by transient highly reactive species generated <i>in situ</i>. Here we show that the oxidative addition of the CC bond in benzene by an isolated metal complex is not only possible, but occurs at room temperature and reversibly at a single aluminium center in [(NON)­Al]<sup>−</sup> (where NON = 4,5-bis­(2,6-diisopropylanilido)-2,7-di-<i>tert</i>-butyl-9,9-dimethylxanthene). Selectivity over CH bond activation is achieved kinetically and allows for the generation of functionalized acyclic products from benzene.