Selective reduction and homologation of carbon monoxide by organometallic iron complexes

Carbon monoxide is a key C 1 feedstock for the industrial production of hydrocarbons, where it is used to make millions of tonnes of chemicals, fuels, and solvents per annum. Many transition metal complexes can coordinate CO, but the formation of new C−C bonds in well-defined compounds from the scis...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2018-09, Vol.9 (1), p.3757-8, Article 3757
Main Authors: Sharpe, Helen R., Geer, Ana M., Taylor, Laurence J., Gridley, Benjamin M., Blundell, Toby J., Blake, Alexander J., Davies, E. Stephen, Lewis, William, McMaster, Jonathan, Robinson, David, Kays, Deborah L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
119/118
140/131
140/58
639/638/263/406/939
639/638/77/889
Ambient temperature
Carbon monoxide
Carboxylates
Chemical bonds
Cleavage
Coordination compounds
Coupling (molecular)
Homology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Industrial production
Iron
Ligands
Metal complexes
multidisciplinary
Organic chemistry
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Transition metal compounds
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Carbon monoxide is a key C 1 feedstock for the industrial production of hydrocarbons, where it is used to make millions of tonnes of chemicals, fuels, and solvents per annum. Many transition metal complexes can coordinate CO, but the formation of new C−C bonds in well-defined compounds from the scission and subsequent coupling of two or more CO moieties at a transition metal centre remains a challenge. Herein, we report the use of low-coordinate iron(II) complexes for the selective scission and homologation of CO affording unusual squaraines and iron carboxylates at ambient temperature and pressure. A modification of the ligand framework allows for the isolation and structural characterisation of a proposed metallacyclic Fe(II) carbene intermediate. These results indicate that, with the appropriate choice of supporting ligands, it is possible to cleave and homologate carbon monoxide under mild conditions using an abundant and environmentally benign low-coordinate, first row transition metal. Metal-mediated activation of CO for C-C coupling reactions is a valuable approach to carbon monoxide valorization. Here, the authors use low-coordinate iron(II) complexes for the selective scission and homologation of CO affording unusual squaraines and iron carboxylates under mild conditions.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-018-06242-w