Within the scope of this thesis, N-heterocyclic carbene precursors were prepared from enantiomerically pure (+)-camphoric acid. The synthesized carbene precursors have an N-C-N-unit, which is located in a rigid bicyclic system composed of a six- and a seven-membered ring. For this reason, the carbenes which can be generated therefrom have a higher basicity than carbenes with an imidazole or imidazoline skeleton. The increased basicity or -donor property can be advantageous in catalytic applications with metal complexes. Furthermore, the chiral enantiomerically pure carbene precursors can be used as ligands or organocatalysts in asymmetric reactions. The majority of this thesis deals with the synthesis of new ruthenium-based catalysts for olefin metathesis. The Grubbs II catalysts with the camphor-based NHCs showed up to 38 % enantiomeric excess in an asymmetric ring-opening cross-metathesis. However, these catalysts turned out to be sensitive, so they were not further investigated. Grubbs-Hoveyda II catalysts with camphor-based NHCs were more stable and could be easily isolated. In asymmetric ring-opening cross-metathesis reactions, an enantioselectivity of up to 43 % was achieved with simultaneously high substrate conversions. In further experiments, the activity of the new catalysts could also be quantified and compared. The influence of the different NHC side arms on the stability, selectivity and activity of the catalysts could be determined from the obtained data. |