Activation and Deactivation of Cp*Ir(TsDPEN) Hydrogenation Catalysts in Water

✍ Scribed by Christopher S. Letko; Zachariah M. Heiden; Thomas B. Rauchfuss

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 180 KB
• Volume: 2009
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1434-1948
• DOI: 10.1002/ejic.200900780

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The addition of H~3~PO~4~ to Cp*Ir(TsDPEN‐H), where TsDPEN = H~2~NCHPhCHPhNTs^–^, is a simple method to obtain a water‐soluble hydrogenation catalyst capable of reducing aromatic ketones to their corresponding alcohols in aqueous solutions. Key to the reactivity is the low affinity of the coordinatively unsaturated [Cp*Ir(TsDPEN)]^+^ for H~2~PO~4~^–^. Catalyst degradation proceeds via the protonation of the tosylamido ligand, as was established by the crystallographic characterization of the tosylamine complex [Cp*Ir(NCMe)(HTsDPEN)]^2+^.(© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2009)