Michael Krische: "Formation of C-C-Bonds via Catalytic Hydrogenation and Transfer Hydrogenation"

Professor Michael Krische
External Senior Fellow of the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies

Formation of C-C-Bonds via Catalytic Hydrogenation and Transfer Hydrogenation

Alkene hydroformylation is the largest volume application of homogenous metal catalysis and may be viewed as the prototypical C-C bond forming hydrogenation. Despite the impact of hydroformylation, systematic efforts to generalize this process are absent. Using carefully tailored hydrogenation catalysts, the Krische group has found that -unsaturated reactants reductively couple to carbonyl compounds and imines under hydrogenation conditions, offering a byproduct-free alternative to stoichiometric organometallics in a range of classical C=X (X = O, NR) addition processes.This concept is extended further via C-C bond forming transfer hydrogenation - reactions in which an alcohol serves dually as hydrogen donor and precursor to the carbonyl electrophile, enabling carbonyl addition from the alcohol oxidation level in the absence of stoichiometric organometallic reagents.