The iron-catalysed hydrofunctionalisation of alkenes and alkynes has been developed to give a range of functionalised products with control of regio-, chemo-and stereochemistry. Using a bench-stable iron(II) pre-catalyst, the hydrosilylation, hydroboration, hydrogermylation and hydromagnesiation of alkenes and alkynes has been achieved.Iron-catalysed hydrosilylation, hydroboration and hydrogermylation of terminal, 1,1-and 1,2-disubstituted alkyl and aryl alkenes and alkynes was developed, in which the active iron catalyst was generated in situ (Scheme A1). Alkyl and vinyl silanes and pinacol boronic esters were synthesised in good to excellent yield in the presence of a range of functional groups. Catalyst loadings as low as 0.07 mol% were demonstrated, along with catalyst turn-over frequencies of up to 60 000 mol h −1 .
Scheme A1. Iron-catalysed hydrosilylation and hydroboration of alkenes and alkynesThe iron-catalysed formal hydrocarboxylation of a range of styrene derivatives has been developed for the synthesis of -aryl carboxylic acids using carbon dioxide and ethylmagnesium bromide as the stoichiometric hydride source (Scheme A2). Detailed mechanistic studies have shown this reaction proceeds by iron-catalysed hydromagnesiation to give an intermediate benzylic organomagnesium reagent. The nature of the active catalyst and reaction mechanism have been proposed. Scheme A2. Iron-catalysed hydromagnesiation of styrene derivatives I would firstly and foremostly like to thank Steve for the past 4 years for making my PhD a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The amount of time he has invested in helping, advising and inspiring me has been truly remarkable and I genuinely could not be more thankful. I will certainly miss our 'discussions' about chemistry, and would finally like to admit that Steve is often right. I am very thankful for having had the chance to meet and work with various people over the years, both here in Edinburgh and in Bristol. I would like to thank the members of the Aggarwal and Pringle groups in Bristol, and all current and past members of the Thomas group. In particular I would like to thank Nick Barron for those days when we were the Thomas group, and Dominik Frank who always knew when it was time for a beer. I am also grateful for all those who have specifically worked with me on projects during my PhD: Dominik Frank, Fern Sinclair, Adam Kolodiej and Jonathan Kwan. I wish everybody the best for the future. I would like to thank the University of Bristol for financial support and those who worked on the Chemical Synthesis DTC (CDT now), in particular Eoghan McGarrigle, Mar and Kevin Booker-Milburn. I would also like to thank Paul Pringle for the time I spent working in his group. I am thankful to the University of Edinburgh for providing the financial support to allow me to move north of the border with Steve. I would also like to thank the RSC for financing my trip to speak at the J-NOST conference in India, despite the food poisoning. The technical and analytical staff at both Bristol and E...