Iron‐Catalyzed Hydrodecarboxylation of Fatty Acids From Vegetable Oils for Drop‐In Biofuel Production

An iron‐catalyzed hydrodecarboxylation procedure was developed to produce drop‐in biofuels from redox‐active esters directly derived from vegetable oils. A commercially available iron salt, Fe(acac) 3 , was employed as a homogeneous catalyst, while phenylsilane (PhSiH 3 ) served as an alternative hydrogen source under mild reaction conditions. After optimization, the method enabled the formation of renewable hydrocarbons with conversions exceeding 88% and yields of up to 89%. Furthermore, a one‐pot procedure was developed to simplify the overall process. In addition, the methodology was successfully applied to a variety of fatty acid mixtures obtained from a wide range of vegetable oils, affording conversions of 60%–95% and hydrocarbon yields of 15%–94%. This approach represents a promising alternative to traditional deoxygenation processes, promoting the production of biofuels from renewable and feasible feedstocks.