Issue 24, 2024

The impact of earth-abundant metals as a replacement for Pd in cross coupling reactions

Abstract

Substitution of one metal catalyst for another is not as straightforward as simply justifying this change based on the availability and/or cost of the metals. Methodologies to properly assess options for reaction design, including multiple factors like a metal's availability, cost, or environmental indicators have not advanced at the pace needed, leaving decisions to be made along these lines more challenging. Isolated indicators can lead to conclusions being made in too hasty a fashion. Therefore, an extensive life cycle-like assessment was performed documenting that the commonly held view that methods using earth-abundant metals (and in this case study, Ni) are inherently green replacements for methods using palladium in cross-coupling reactions, and Suzuki–Miyaura couplings, in particular, is an incomplete analysis of the entire picture. This notion can be misleading, and unfortunately derives mainly from the standpoint of price, and to some degree, relative natural abundance associated with the impact of mining of each metal. A more accurate picture emerges when several additional reaction parameters involved in the compared couplings are considered. The analysis points to the major impact that use of organic solvents has in these couplings, while the metals themselves actually play subordinate roles in terms of CO2-release into the environment and hence, the overall carbon footprint (i.e., climate change). The conclusion is that a far more detailed analysis is required than that typically being utilized.

Graphical abstract: The impact of earth-abundant metals as a replacement for Pd in cross coupling reactions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
21 1 2024
Accepted
12 4 2024
First published
16 4 2024
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2024,15, 9016-9025

The impact of earth-abundant metals as a replacement for Pd in cross coupling reactions

M. U. Luescher, F. Gallou and B. H. Lipshutz, Chem. Sci., 2024, 15, 9016 DOI: 10.1039/D4SC00482E

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