Base-Free Dehydrogenation of Aqueous and Neat Formic Acid with Iridium(III) Cp*(dipyridylamine) Catalysts

Shengdong Wang; Haiyun Huang; Thierry Roisnel; Christian Bruneau; Cédric Fischmeister

doi:10.1002/cssc.201802275

Base-Free Dehydrogenation of Aqueous and Neat Formic Acid with Iridium(III) Cp*(dipyridylamine) Catalysts

ChemSusChem. 2019 Jan 10;12(1):179-184. doi: 10.1002/cssc.201802275. Epub 2018 Nov 28.

Authors

Shengdong Wang¹, Haiyun Huang¹, Thierry Roisnel², Christian Bruneau¹, Cédric Fischmeister¹

Affiliations

¹ Univ Rennes. UMR CNRS 6226, Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, Université de Rennes 1, 263, avenue du général Leclerc, 35000, Rennes, France.
² Univ Rennes. UMR CNRS 6226, Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, Centre de diffractométrie X, Université de Rennes 1, 263, avenue du général Leclerc, 35000, Rennes, France.

PMID: 30325585
DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201802275

Abstract

The selective dehydrogenation of formic acid by iridium(III) Cp*(dipyridylamine) catalysts is reported. The electron-enriched catalyst [Ir^III Cp*{(4-dimethylaminopyridin-2-yl-κΝ)(pyridin-2'-yl-κΝ)amine}(OSO₃ )] gave the best performances enabling the base free dehydrogenation of aqueous and neat formic acid. In both cases the reaction was selective with no carbon monoxide detectable. The Ir^III complex demonstrated latent behavior, which may be of practical utility. Experimental results suggest an outer-sphere interaction with the ligand.

Keywords: N ligands; dehydrogenation; energy conversion; hydrogen; iridium.