The Development of Iron Catalysts for Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling and the Reactivity Discovered Along the Way

Abstract

This dissertation discusses the development of iron-based catalysts for Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions and some of the unique reactivity that was discovered as a direct result of these studies. Chapter one will review the area of iron-catalyzed cross-coupling with an emphasis placed on areas where iron provides complimentary reactivity to other metals. Chapter two will detail the initial discovery of conditions that allow for iron-catalysts to participate in the cross-coupling of aryl boronic esters and alkyl halides. Chapter three will discuss the the development of ligands for iron that allow for more general cross-coupling reactivity to be observed. Finally, chapter four will discuss the unique C-H funtionalization reactivty that has been observed as byproducts in chapters two and three. Digging deeper into this reactivty lead to the discovery of a completely novel three-component coupling reaction mediated by the iron complexes discovered in chapter three.