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Updated: Jan 20, 2026

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Published on: December 3, 2019
Controlling the selectivity and efficiency of the hydrogen borrowing reaction by switching between rhodium and
Danfeng Wang1, Roy T McBurney1, Indrek Pernik1
1Department of Molecular Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia. barbara.messerle@mq.edu.au indrek.pernik@mq.edu.au.
Abstract:
The catalytic alkylation of ketones with alcohols via the hydrogen borrowing methodology (HB) has the potential to be a highly efficient approach for forming new carbon-carbon bonds. However, this transformation can result in more than one product being formed. The work reported here utilises bidentate triazole-carbene ligated iridium and rhodium complexes as catalysts for the selective formation of alkylated ketone or alcohol products. Switching from an iridium centre to a rhodium centre in the complex resulted in significant changes in product selectivity. Other factors - base, base loading, solvent and reaction temperature - were also investigated to tune the selectivity further. The optimised conditions were used to demonstrate the scope of the reaction across 17 ketones and 14 alcohols containing a variety of functional groups. A series of mechanistic investigations were performed to probe the reasons behind the product selectivity, including kinetic and deuterium studies.
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