Carbenes are short-lived and highly reactive organic molecules containing two non-bonding electrons on the carbon atom with the general formula: R1R2C. Generally there are two types of carbenes; singlet and triplet. Singlet carbenes have a pair of electrons and are sp2 hybridized, whereas triplet carbenes have two unpaired electrons and their hybridization might be sp2 or sp. Among the different classes of existing singlet carbenes, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) have received considerable attention. Recently we have synthesized and characterized two new N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands. These ligands were used to investigate the short metal-metal interactions between closed shell ions such as Ag(I) and Au(I). The Ag(I) and Au(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes are highly luminescent, and they may be used as sensors. The NHC ligands and their respective Ag(I) and Au(I) complexes were characterized by 1H, 13C NMR, UV, and X-ray diffraction.