No abstract

The substitution of expensive and potentially toxic noble-metal catalysts by cheap, abundant, environmentally benign, and less toxic metals is highly desirable and in line with green chemistry guidelines. We have recently discovered a new type of metal-ligand cooperation, which is based on the reversible dearomatization/aromatization of different heteroaromatic ligand cores caused by deprotonation/protonation of the ligand. More specifically, we have studied complexes of various transition metals (Ru, Fe, Co, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd, Pt, and Re) bearing pyridine- and bipyridine-based PNP and PNN pincer ligands, which have slightly acidic methylene protons. In addition, we have discovered long-range metal-ligand cooperation in acridine-based pincer ligands, where the cooperation takes place at the electrophilic C-9 position of the acridine moiety leading to dearomatization of its middle ring. This type of metal-ligand cooperation was used for the activation of chemical bonds, including H-H, C-H (sp(2) and sp(3)), O-H, N-H, and B-H bonds. This unusual reactivity likely takes place in various catalytic hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, and related reactions. In this Account, we summarize our studies on novel bifunctional iron PNP and PNN pincer complexes, which were designed on the basis of their ruthenium congeners. Iron PNP pincer complexes serve as efficient (pre)catalysts for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions under remarkably mild conditions. Their catalytic applications include atom-efficient and industrially important hydrogenation reactions of ketones, aldehydes, and esters to the corresponding alcohols. Moreover, they catalyze the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to sodium formate in the presence of sodium hydroxide, the selective decomposition of formic acid to carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and the E-selective semihydrogenation of alkynes to give E-alkenes. These catalysts feature, compared to other iron-based catalysts, very high catalytic activities which in some cases can even exceed those of state-of-the-art noble-metal catalysts. For the iron PNP systems, we describe the synthesis of the pyridine- and acridine-based PNP iron complexes and their performances and limitations in catalytic reactions, and we present studies on their reactivity with relevance to their catalytic mechanisms. In the case of the bipyridine-based PNN system, we summarize the synthesis of new complexes and describe studies on the noninnocence of the methylene position, which can be reversibly deprotonated, as well as on the noninnocence of the bipyridine unit. Overall, this Account underlines that the combination of cheap and abundant iron with ligands that are capable of metal-ligand cooperation can result in the development of novel, versatile, and efficient catalysts for atom-efficient catalytic reactions.

Hydrogen liberation: An attractive approach to reversible hydrogen storage applications is based on the decomposition of formic acid. The efficient and selective hydrogen liberation from formic acid is catalyzed by an iron pincer complex in the presence of trialkylamine. Turnover frequencies up to 836 h⁻¹ and turnover numbers up to 100,000 were achieved at 40 °C. A mechanism including well-defined intermediates is suggested on the basis of experimental and computational data.

The development of new homogenous base‐metal catalysts for hydrogenation reactions is a rapidly expanding and evolving field of research, which has the potential to provide inexpensive and sustainable alternatives for atom economic reactions and possibly contribute additional tools for hydrogen storage applications. While tremendous accomplishments in terms of catalytic activity and substrate scope have been reported over the last years, the available mechanistic information on these reactions is often very limited. The current Concept article intends to summarize, categorize and analyze mechanistic information on iron‐based hydrogenation catalysts. In addition, we present the challenges that must be tackled in the future to develop more effective and mature catalyst systems. The primary focus of this work lies on iron‐based catalysts. However, manganese‐based hydrogenation catalysts have recently attracted significant interest and a remarkable progress in their development has been made. Available mechanistic information on manganese catalysts is compared to that on iron catalysts and basic similarities and differences are discussed.

The synthetically important, environmentally benign hydrogenation of esters to alcohols has been accomplished in recent years only with precious-metal-based catalysts. Here we present the first iron-catalyzed hydrogenation of esters to the corresponding alcohols, proceeding selectively and efficiently in the presence of an iron pincer catalyst under remarkably mild conditions.