Well‐Defined Cyclopentadienyl NHC Iron Complex as the Catalyst for Efficient Hydrosilylation of Amides to Amines and Nitriles

Iron comes first, second, and third: By using the well-defined Cp-IMes iron cationic complex ([Fe], see scheme) as the catalyst, an efficient and versatile hydrosilylation reduction reaction of secondary and tertiary amides is performed in solvent-free conditions at 100 °C under visible light irradiation for 16 h to give the corresponding amines in good yields. When the reaction is performed with primary amides, the corresponding nitrile derivatives are obtained.