Always cite the published version, so the author(s) will receive recognition through services that track citation counts, e.g. Scopus. If you need to cite the page number of the author manuscript from TSpace because you cannot access the published version, then cite the TSpace version in addition to the published version using the permanent URI (handle) found on the record page.ABSTRACT: Our group previously reported the development of iron carbonyl catalysts bearing chiral tridentate P-N-P' ligands for the asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral ketones in THF. An NMR study into the activation process identified the amine hydride alkoxide complexes Fe(P-NH-P')(CO)(H)(OR 1 ) with R 1 = Me, tBu or tAmyl and P-NH-P' = PPh2CH2CH2NHCH2CH2PiPr2 or (S,S)-PPh2CHPhCHMeNHCH2CH2PCy2. These still required treatment with excess KOtBu and H2(g) to be catalytically active in THF. Both experimental methods and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were used to show that this treatment leads to the formation of a hydride amide complex Fe(P-N-P')(CO)(H) which reacts with dihydrogen to form cis and trans dihydride complexes Fe(P-NH-P')(CO)(H)2, identified by NMR spectroscopy. In the presence of KOtBu, NaOtBu or KOtBu/2,2,2-cryptand and H2(g), these species are active for the catalytic hydrogenation of acetophenone, while in the absence of H2(g), inactive Fe(0) complexes are formed. Ketone hydrogenation is proposed to occur in an outer sphere stepwise process and this enantio-determining step has been modeled by DFT. The calculations suggest that the energy barriers for either hydride attack on the ketone, or dihydrogen splitting either to the nitrogen of the amide complex in the inner coordination sphere or to the oxygen of an alkoxide group in the outer sphere are similar and that either hydride transfer or dihydrogen splitting could determine the turn-over frequency depending of the nature of the ketone.