Iron-Based Catalysts for the Hydrogenation of Esters to Alcohols

Hydrogenation of esters is vital to the chemical industry for the production of alcohols, especially fatty alcohols that find broad applications in consumer products. Current technologies for ester hydrogenation rely on either heterogeneous catalysts operating under extreme temperatures and pressure...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of the American Chemical Society 2014-06, Vol.136 (22), p.7869-7872
Main Authors:	Chakraborty, Sumit, Dai, Huiguang, Bhattacharya, Papri, Fairweather, Neil T, Gibson, Michael S, Krause, Jeanette A, Guan, Hairong
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Hydrogenation of esters is vital to the chemical industry for the production of alcohols, especially fatty alcohols that find broad applications in consumer products. Current technologies for ester hydrogenation rely on either heterogeneous catalysts operating under extreme temperatures and pressures or homogeneous catalysts containing precious metals such as ruthenium and osmium. Here, we report the hydrogenation of esters under relatively mild conditions by employing an iron-based catalyst bearing a PNP-pincer ligand. This catalytic system is also effective for the conversion of coconut oil derived fatty acid methyl esters to detergent alcohols without adding any solvent.
ISSN:	0002-7863 1520-5126