Hydrocarbon Oxidation Catalyzed by a Cheap Nonheme Imine-Based Iron (II) Complex

Nonheme iron complexes are emerging as promising tools in the field of C-H bond activation, as they catalyze selective hydroxylation of aliphatic C-H bonds using environmentally benign hydrogen peroxide as the terminal oxidant. In their design, ligand properties are crucial for both catalyst’s activity and selectivity. This feature often leads to expensive and difficult to synthesize ligand architectures, thus hampering the diffusion of this synthetic methodology. [1] In order to overcome these problems, we designed a simple nonheme iron complex assembled in one pot from cheap and commercially available reagents. This complex exhibits high turnover numbers in aliphatic C-H hydroxylation, comparable to the most efficient catalysts prepared so far, albeit with a simpler structure. Results of several hydrocarbon oxidations, together with the full characterization of the complex, will be presented.