PNNL

Abstract

Homogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of the C=O bond of ketones has a long and successful history in catalysis, but has been almost exclusively been carried out with precious metals such as rhodium or ruthenium. It is now possible to carry out catalytic hydrogenation of ketones using organometallic complexes of inexpensive, abundant metals like molybdenum or tungsten. In most cases, these reactions proceed by an ionic hydrogenation mechanism, in which a metal hydride bond serves as a proton donor and a different metal hydride serves as a hydride donor. Reaction of the metal complex with dihydrogen regenerates the metal hydride bonds and completes the catalytic cycle. This chapter will review the development of this new class of catalyst, and will summarize the activity and lifetimes of molybdenum and tungsten catalysts. This work was supported by the US Department of energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences' Chemical Sciences program. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for US Department of Energy.