Organometallic complexes are provided, which include a catalyst containing a
transition metal, a ligand and a component having the formula GArF. ArF is an aromatic ring
system selected from phenyl, naphthalenyl, anthracenyl, fluorenyl, or indenyl. The aromatic ring
system has at least a
substituent selected from
fluorine,
hydrogen, hydrocarbyl or fluorinated hydrocarbyl, G is substituted or unsubstituted (CH2)n or (CF2)n, wherein n is from 1 to 30, wherein further one or more CH2 or CF2 groups are optionally replaced by NR, PR, SiR2, BR, O or S, or R is hydrocarbyl or substituted hydrocarbyl, GArF being covalently bonded to either said
transition metal or said ligand of said catalyst, thereby rendering said cationic organometallic complex liquid. The catalyst of the organometallic complex can be [CpM(CO)2(NHC)Lk]+A−, wherein M is an atom of
molybdenum or
tungsten, Cp is substituted or unsubstituted cyclopentadienyl radical represented by the formula [C5Q1Q2Q3Q4Q5], wherein Q1 to Q5 are independently selected from the group consisting of H radical, GArF C1-20 hydrocarbyl radical, substituted hydrocarbyl radical, substituted hydrocarbyl radical substituted by GArF,
halogen radical,
halogen-substituted hydrocarbyl radical, —OR, —C(O)R′, —CO2R′, —SiR′3 and —NR′R″, wherein R′ and R″ are independently selected from the group consisting of H radical, C1-20 hydrocarbyl radical,
halogen radical, and halogen-substituted hydrocarbyl radical, wherein said Q1 to Q5 radicals are optionally linked to each other to form a stable bridging group, NHC is any N-heterocyclic
carbene ligand, L is either any neutral
electron donor ligand, wherein k is a number from 0 to 1 or L is an anionic ligand wherein k is 2, and A− is an anion. Processes using the organometallic complexes as catalysts in catalytic reactions, such as for example, the
hydrosilylation of aldehydes, ketones and esters are also provided.