Cobalt Precursors for High-Throughput Discovery of Base Metal Asymmetric Alkene Hydrogenation Catalysts

Lighter Hydrogenation Catalysts Enzymes have evolved to use abundant metals such as iron, cobalt, and nickel for redox catalysis. However, synthetic catalysis has generally relied on the rarer, heavier relatives of these elements: ruthenium, rhodium, iridium, palladium, and platinum (see the Perspective by Bullock ). Friedfeld et al. (p. 1076 ) used high-throughput screening to show that the right cobalt precursor can be activated for asymmetric hydrogenation catalysis by using the traditional ligands developed for the precious metals. Zuo et al. (p. 1080 ) focused on iron, demonstrating a highly effective asymmetric transfer hydrogenation catalyst that uses a ligand rationally designed after careful mechanistic study. Jagadeesh et al. (p. 1073 ) prepared supported iron catalysts that selectively reduce nitro substituents on aromatic rings to amines, thereby facilitating the preparation of a wide range of aniline derivatives.