Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Coupling of Primary Alcohols with Water, Methanol, or Amines

A working partnership: Metal–ligand cooperativity is responsible for the high activity of the rhodium amido complex 1 in the dehydrogenative coupling of primary alcohols with water, methanol, or amines, including ammonia (see scheme), to give carboxylic acids, methyl carboxylates, or amides, respectively. The catalysis proceeds under mild reaction conditions in the presence of a recyclable hydrogen acceptor A. The multistep mechanism was elucidated by computational methods.