The conversion of polyolefins to monomers would create a valuable carbon feedstock from the largest fraction of waste plastic. However, breakdown of the main chains in these polymers requires the cleavage of carbon–carbon bonds that tend to resist selective chemical transformations. Here, we report the production of propylene by partial dehydrogenation of polyethylene and tandem isomerizing ethenolysis of the desaturated chain. Dehydrogenation of high-density polyethylene with either an iridium-pincer complex or platinum/zinc supported on silica as catalysts yielded dehydrogenated material containing up to 3.2% internal olefins; the combination of a second-generation Hoveyda-Grubbs metathesis catalyst and [PdP( t Bu) 3 (μ-Br)] 2 as an isomerization catalyst selectively degraded this unsaturated polymer to propylene in yields exceeding 80%. These results show promise for the application of mild catalysis to deconstruct otherwise stable polyolefins.

We report an approach to conducting the hydroaminomethylation of diverse α‐olefins with a wide range of alkyl, aryl, and heteroarylamines at relatively low temperatures (70–80 °C) and pressures (1.0–3.4 bar) of synthesis gas. This approach is based on simultaneously using two distinct catalysts that are mutually compatible. The hydroformylation step is catalyzed by a rhodium diphosphine complex, and the reductive amination step, which is conducted as a transfer hydrogenation with aqueous, buffered sodium formate as the reducing agent, is catalyzed by a cyclometallated iridium complex. By adjusting the ratio of CO to H2, we conducted the reaction at one atmosphere of gas with little change in yield. A diverse array of olefins and amines, including hetreroarylamines that do not react under more conventional conditions with a single catalyst, underwent hydroaminomethylation with this new system, and the pharmaceutical ibutilide was prepared in higher yield and under milder conditions than with a single catalyst.

We report a contra-thermodynamic isomerization of internal olefins to terminal olefins driven by redox reactions and formation of Si−F bonds. This process involves chain-walking hydrosilylation of internal olefins and subsequent formal retro-hydrosilylation. The process rests upon the high activities of platinum hydrosilylation catalysts for isomerization of metal alkyl intermediates and a new, metal-free process for the conversion of alkylsilanes to alkenes. By this approach, 1,2-disubstituted and trisubstituted olefins are converted to terminal olefins.