Low-Temperature Dehydrogenation of Cyclooctane by Using Pincer Iridium Complexes Bearing an N,N′-Diarylated PNCNP Ligand

Abstract

PNCNP pincer iridium complexes possessing arylnitrene linkers (−N(Ar)−) catalyze transfer dehydrogenation of cyclooctane (COA) under low-temperature conditions, giving 200 turnovers at 125 °C using tert-butylethylene (TBE) and 60 turnovers at 50 °C using cyclohexene (CHE) as a sacrificial hydrogen acceptor. Despite prior reports dealing with the synthetic difficulty of pincer iridium complexes bearing di(isopropyl)phosphoramine sidearms, our design using chemically inert (3,5-disubstituted-aryl)nitrene linkers allowed for the successful complexation with iridium. The structural characterization and computational study revealed that steric congestion provided by arylnitrene linkers destabilizes the resting internal alkene adducts, thereby reducing the overall activation barrier of the rate-limiting C–H addition. The steric congestion also hinders undesirable disproportionation of CHE, allowing for its use as an effective hydrogen acceptor. With their straightforward synthesis coupled with fine tunability through the 3,5-substituents on the aryl groups, the N,N′-diarylated PNCNP ligands presented in this work will be a valuable addition to the highly successful PCP pincer framework.