Dehydrogenative silylation of alcohols catalysed by half-sandwich iron N-heterocyclic carbene complexes

•A new series of (Cp*-NHCR)Fe(CO)I complexes were prepared.•New iron complexes were fully characterised.•These complexes were applied as catalysts for coupling of alcohols with silanes.•Complexes bearing iso-butyl and n-butyl wingtips displayed higher activity.

A new series of tetramethylcyclopentadienyl-functionalised N-heterocyclic carbene complexes of iron bearing different wingtips of general type (Cp*-NHCR)Fe(CO)I (R = nBu, iBu, Et, CH2CH2OMe, CH2Ph) were prepared by direct reaction of Fe3(CO)12 and the corresponding imidazolium proligands. These new iron-NHC complexes have been found to be efficient catalysts for the dehydrogenative silylation of alcohols with silanes. Iron metal complexes bearing iso-butyl and n-butyl wingtips displayed slightly better catalytic performances than the related complexes (Cp*-NHCR)Fe(CO)I (R = Et, CH2CH2OMe, CH2Ph), affording quantitative yields of the corresponding silylethers in 8 h at 70 °C in acetonitrile.

Graphical abstractA series of half-sandwich iron-NHC complexes exhibited good catalytic performances in the dehydrogenative silylation of alcohols with silanes.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide