Ir-POCOP Pincer Compounds

In spite of the success that Ir—PCP pincer compounds have enjoyed in the development of more efficient and promising alkane dehydrogenation systems, one caveat of using these complexes has been the sometimes difficult or tedious synthesis of the pincer ligands and complexes. An answer to this problem was 

Since then, these ligands and their complexes have become increasingly important due to the fact that they exhibit the same characterishcs of robustness and thermal stability and, in most of cases, an enhanced reactivity compared to their phosphine counterparts. Thus, phosphinite PCP pincer complexes have been used intensely during the most recent era of catalytic processes and reactions involving the activation of aliphatic C—H bonds [40]. 

A major problem associated with the above-described systems is that of product inhibition of the catalyst and isomerization processes, when a certain yield of a-olefin has been attained. It would be desirable, therefore, to have a catalyst (or a combination of catalysts) capable of using and/or draining the newly formed double bonds in such a way that the olefin would cause neither of these problems. 

Although this process has shown much promise, decomposition of the olefin metathesis catalyst appears to limit the conversion nonetheless, it is expected that a more robust and compatible olefin metathesis catalyst will yield higher TONs. 

The support and enthusiasm of the former and current group members and colleagues at the authors institution are gratefully acknowledged. The research studies described in this chapter were supported by CONACYT (F58692) and DGAPA-UNAM (IN227008). 

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