Over the last two decades, the development of facile homogenous catalysis using organometallic complexes has received significant attention. Due to the high activation barrier for cleavage of H<sub>2</sub> and C-H bonds, homogeneous systems often employ harsh reaction conditions such as high temperatures and stoichiometric amounts of additives like carboxylate salts to promote bond activation. To overcome these limitations, creative ligand designs are used to increase metal-ligand complex reactivity and lower bond activation barriers. While most ligands do not directly participate in the bond cleavage/bond formation processes, ligands containing functional groups that introduce acidic/basic sites proximal to the metal center can participate through acid-base interactions with the substrate. These interactions could lower the activation barrier for bond cleavage. To validate this hypothesis, secondary phosphine oxide and oxime ligands were synthesized and complexed to metal centers. These complexes were employed in model transfer hydrogenation and C-H bond activation reactions to examine their ability as catalysts. By developing complexes that efficiently promote bond activation under mild conditions, the waste generated during synthetic processes in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries could be significantly reduced.

Synthesis of palladium complexes bearing secondary phosphine oxide and oxime ligands for application in transfer hydrogenation and cross dehydrogenative coupling reactions

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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