Facile Benzylic Alkylation of Arenes with Alcohols by Catalysis with a Spirocyclic NHC IrIII Pincer Complex

Abstract

AbstractA facile benzylic alkylation of indenes and other arenes was developed from readily available primary and secondary alcohols using our newly investigated CCC pincer IrIII catalyst (SNIr−H). Excellent regioselectivity and yield (89 %) of the C3‐alkylated indenes were obtained. Additionally, the challenging sp2C‐alkylation was readily accomplished. This method could be utilized for the synthesis of the analogs of a histamine H1 receptor antagonist and the functional material template molecule, indeno[2,1‐a]indene. A hemilabile IrIII‐dihydride intermediate was proposed based on control experiments and previous density functional theory (DFT) calculations for the borrowing hydrogen mechanism and is key to the success of this IrIII catalyst in the reduction of unactivated multi‐substituted olefin intermediates.