The last two decades have seen the development of efficient homogeneous catalysts for the hydrogenation of carboxylic acid derivatives, such as esters. However, many reported catalysts are not tolerant to the presence of Brønsted acids, and are assisted by the presence of base. We report the investigation of pincer-supported iridium catalysts for the hydrogenation of esters to alcohols that operate under neutral or acidic conditions. Mechanistic studies give insight into the origin of this tolerance to protic conditions, as well as to carbon dioxide. Additionally, catalyst deactivation pathways are explored.

Base-free hydrogenation of esters using pincer-ligated iridium complexes and dihydrogen

254th National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.