Hydrogenation of esters to alcohols with a well-defined iron complex

  • Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2014 Aug 11;53(33):8722-6. doi: 10.1002/anie.201402542.
Svenja Werkmeister  1 ,  Kathrin Junge ,  Bianca Wendt ,  Elisabetta Alberico ,  Haijun Jiao ,  Wolfgang Baumann ,  Henrik Junge ,  Fabrice Gallou ,  Matthias Beller
Affiliations
  • 1. Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e.V. an der Universität Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Strasse 29a, 18059 Rostock (Germany).
PMID: 24890043 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201402542
Abstract

We present the first base-free Fe-catalyzed ester reduction applying molecular hydrogen. Without any additives, a variety of carboxylic acid esters and lactones were hydrogenated with high efficiency. Computations reveal an outer-sphere mechanism involving simultaneous hydrogen transfer from the iron center and the ligand. This assumption is supported by NMR experiments.

Keywords
alcohols; esters; homogeneous catalysis; hydrogenation; iron.
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