Soluble iron nanoparticles as cheap and environmentally benign alkene and alkyne hydrogenation catalysts

Abstract

Iron nanoparticles prepared by reducing FeCl(3) with three equivalents of EtMgCl in THF are effective catalysts for the hydrogenation of alkenes and alkynes under moderate conditions.

Iron‐Catalyzed Reductive Radical Cyclization of Organic Halides in the Presence of NaBH4: Evidence of an Active Hydrido Iron(I) Catalyst

“…Fe I , [9,10] Fe 0 , [10,11] and Fe ÀII [12] species have been reported. In contrast, no deuterated product was detected when the reaction was carried out with NaBH 4 in CD 3 CN.…”

“…[3][4][5] Hydrides of other main-group elements including silicon, [3a] boron, [3c, 4e-h] gallium, [4b] and indium [4a-d] as well as hydrides of transition metals have been examined. [8] Iron is known to accommodate low oxidation states, [9][10][11][12] and thus we decided to investigate iron(II) catalysts in the presence of NaBH 4 for the direct reduction and cyclization of organic halides. Iron is abundant, cheap, and has low toxicity.…”

Practical Iron‐Catalyzed Allylations of Aryl Grignard Reagents

“…The terminal iron-catalyzed hydrogenation can be viewed as a non-toxic alternative to protocols employing Raney nickel catalysts. [24] Hydrogenation of both allylbenzene derivatives was complete within 4 h at 1 bar H 2 and room temperature; conversion of the minor 2-(1-propenyl)anisole components was somewhat slower (20 h). Further results toward this end will be communicated in due course.…”

Pairwise hydrogen addition in the selective semihydrogenation of alkynes on silica-supported Cu catalysts

“…This activity in the hydrogenation of alkenes to alkanes agrees well with the behavior usually observed in the batch hydrogenation of alkynes, where olefins (primary products) get consumed as soon as there is no more alkyne in the reaction mixture. 9,41 It is worth noting that no PHIP effects were observed in the hydrogenation of 1-butene on Cu/SiO 2-700 (Fig. S5†).…”