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

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.