(N‑Phosphinoamidinate)Iron Pre-Catalysts for the Room Temperature Hydrosilylation of Carbonyl Compounds with Broad Substrate Scope at Low Loadings

The synthesis and structural characterization of three-coordinate iron­(II) and cobalt­(II) complexes supported by new N-phosphinoamidinate ligands is reported, along with the successful application of these complexes as precatalysts for the challenging room-temperature hydrosilylation of carbonyl compounds to afford alcohols upon workup. Under the rigorous screening conditions employed (0.015 mol % Fe) for the reduction of acetophenone, the well-defined iron­(II) amido precatalyst 2b, featuring bulky N-2,6-diisopropylphenyl and di-tert-butylphosphino moieties within the N-phosphinoamidinate ligand, exhibited exceptional catalytic performance. Further experimentation revealed that the yield achieved in the hydrosilylation of acetophenone employing 2b was unaltered when conducting reactions in the absence of light, in the presence of excess mercury, or under solvent-free conditions. Notably, precatalyst 2b was found to exhibit the broadest substrate scope reported to date for such room-temperature iron-catalyzed carbonyl hydrosilylations en route to alcohols, enabling the chemoselective reduction of structurally diverse aldehydes and ketones, as well as for the first time esters, at remarkably low loadings (0.01–1.0 mol % Fe) and using only 1 equiv of phenylsilane reductant.