Hydrogenation reactions are especially pertinent in the pharmaceutical industry for transforming a carbonyl group into an alcohol through the addition of two hydrogen atoms across the C=O double bond. Through the use of a catalyst, this transformation can be selective for one enantiomer over another.<br/>In additional to aiding in selectivity, catalysis also aids in waste reduction and can also improve the efficiency of a reaction. Numerous very efficient hydrogenation catalysts are used in the pharmaceutical industry, but they are very expensive and the metals commonly used (Rh, Ir, Ru) are potentially environmentally detrimental. Iron-based hydrogenation catalysts would provide a much more cost-effective and sustainable alternative to existing hydrogenation catalysts. The development of iron-based hydrogenation catalysts has been the focus of the research in our lab. A key element of the design is the use of hydroxypyridine ligands to perform ligand-assisted heterolytic cleavage of dihydrogen. This presentation will focus on our efforts to develop iron-based hydrogenation catalysts. Several iron precursors have been targeted for synthesis and their reactivity with model ligands have been studied to develop routes to hydrogenation catalysts.

Development of iron-based hydrogenation catalysts: Applications in the pharmaceutical industry

255th National Meeting (2018)

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