Bifunctional Pincer Catalysts for Chemoselective Transfer Hydrogenation and Related Reactions

A comparative study on the chemoselective transfer hydrogenation of nitroarenes to anilines and related processes using FA as the hydrogen source is described; these processes are catalyzed by a series of pincer catalysts equipped with different functional groups in the secondary coordination sphere. Some new (4 and 5) as well as previously reported (1-3) catalysts belonging to the family of bifunctional PC(sp(3))P pincer complexes were employed in this study The reported compounds exhibited remarkably different catalytic activity behavior, depending on the nature of the functional groups. Transfer hydrogenation of nitrobenzene with FA as a hydrogen source was probed using iridium complexes 3 or 4 as a catalyst. Under the same conditions, the analogous palladium complex was found to be useful for the selective amidation of aniline with light carboxylic acids.