Alkane Dehydrogenation Catalyzed by PN3P Pincer Iridium Hydride Complex

Abstract

The use of iridium-based pincer complex, specifically the PN3P pincer ligand backbone, for the efficient alkane dehydrogenation reaction is explored. Herein, we investigate the catalytic performance of PN3P pincer iridium dihydride complex (Ir2) in the dehydrogenation reaction of cyclooctane to cyclooctene. With 0.1 mol% of Ir2, cyclooctane with tert-butylethylene (TBE) as a hydrogen acceptor and NaOtBu as a base, we achieved conversion up to 55% of tert-butylethylene (TBE) with TON up to 546. These results highlight the potential of PN3P pincer iridium dihydride complex as a robust catalyst for selective alkane dehydrogenation under mild reaction conditions. Furthermore DFT calculations strongly support our proposed mechanism.