Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.137, No.11, 3743-3746, 2015
Chemoselective Hydrogenation of Carbonyl Compounds and Acceptor less Dehydrogenative Coupling of Alcohols
OsHCl(CO)[kappa(3)-PyCH2NHC2H4NHPtBu2] is the first efficient catalyst for chemoselective reduction of challenging unsaturated esters to enols and for acceptorless coupling of amines with MeOH and EtOH affording formamides and acetamides. The NMR, ESI-MS, and DFT data indicate a mechanism proceeding in the metal coordination sphere and producing no free organic intermediates.