 The chemical bond present in carbene radicals is surprising in that it possesses aspects of both Fischer and Schrock type carbenes.As a result, the cobalt carbene radical complexes have discrete radical-character at their carbon atom, thus giving rise to interesting catalytic radical-type reaction pathways.The mechanism of formation of a carbene radical at cobalt(II) typically involves carbene generation at the metal with simultaneous intramolecular electron transfer from the metal into the metal-carbene π* anti-bonding molecular orbital constructed from the metal d-orbital and the carbene p-orbital.