Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
School of Green Chemistry and Engineering
University of Toledo
CROSS-COUPLING REACTIONS
We previously investigated Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of aryl halides with arylboronic acids using ion-tagged ligands 1a and 2a in an ionic liquid solvent system as shown below:
We recently initiated a new project aimed at developing iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of interest to the pharmaceutical industry. Iron is the most abundant transition metal in the Earth’s crust and is thus inexpensive. The low toxicity of iron allows high residual iron content in active pharmaceutical ingredients and reduces cost and waste generation associated with metal removal and purification steps. Hence, iron would be a cost-effective and sustainable substitute for palladium in cross-coupling reactions pertinent to the pharmaceutical industry. Details of this work will be reported when preliminary work is completed.