Deoxygenation of Nitrous Oxide and Nitro Compounds Using Bis(N‐Heterocyclic Silylene)Amido Iron Complexes as Catalysts
Xi Chen, Hao Wang, Shaozhi Du, Matthias Drieß, Zhenbo Mo
Abstract
Abstract Herein, we report the efficient degradation of N 2 O with a well‐defined bis(silylene)amido iron complex as catalyst. The deoxygenation of N 2 O using the iron silanone complex 4 as a catalyst and pinacolborane (HBpin) as a sacrificial reagent proceeds smoothly at 50 °C to form N 2 , H 2 , and (pinB) 2 O. Mechanistic studies suggest that the iron–silicon cooperativity is the key to this catalytic transformation, which involves N 2 O activation, H atom transfer, H 2 release and oxygenation of the boron sites. This approach has been further developed to enable catalytic reductions of nitro compounds, producing amino‐boranes with good functional‐group tolerance and excellent chemoselectivity.