Journal of the American Chemical Society
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iron species. Future studies to further elucidate the un-
Scheme 2. Reactions of 1 with β-bromostyrene
1
2
3
4
derlying mechanism on the reactions of 1 with electro-
phile will further develop our understating of iron-
catalyzed cross-coupling reactions using ferric salts.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
5
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9
Supporting Information. Experimental methods and sup-
plementary data including EPR, MCD, Mössbauer and X-
ray crystallographic data. The Supporting Information is
available free of charge on the ACS Publications website.
involved ~ 15 mM of 1 and ~ 0.5 equiv of β-bromostyrene
for each run. While cross-coupled product does form in
this reaction, only ~ 5% of β-methylstyrene (with respect to
β-bromostyrene) was found to form after 40 s of reaction
(Scheme 2). No significant increase in product was ob-
served at extended reaction time (~ 6 % after 120 s) and no
additional side products were observed.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
Notes
Despite the minimal formation of cross-coupled prod-
uct following 40 s of direct reaction of 1 with β-
bromostyrene, EPR analysis of the reaction freeze-
trapped 40 s after electrophile addition indicated signifi-
cant consumption of 1 upon addition of electrophile
(Figure 4B) though no new EPR active species are ob-
served to be generated. Interestingly, in Kochi’s original
studies it was suggested that reaction of the iron active
species with electrophile might first form an initial in-
termediate species which then required reaction with
additional MeMgBr to form cross-coupled product.6 To
test this hypothesis for 1, an experiment was also per-
formed where 40 s after the addition of β-bromostyrene
additional MeMgBr was added (1.1 equiv with respect
to β-bromostyrene) and the reaction quenched following
an additional 50 s of reaction time. With the addition of
MeMgBr, essentially complete conversion of the elec-
trophile to selectively form cross-coupled product was
observed (99% yield with respect to electrophile)
(Scheme 2). Furthermore, EPR of the reaction solution
freeze-trapped 50 s after MeMgBr addition demonstrates
the near-quantitative re-formation of 1 in-situ (see SI).
Overall, these results are consistent with 1 being an ef-
fective reactive species for the formation of cross-
coupled product in the presence of additional MeMgBr.
While challenging, future studies will be directed to-
wards the identification of the initial intermediate spe-
cies formed upon reaction of 1 with electrophile in order
to further probe the underlying mechanism of this reac-
tion.
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was support by a grant from the National Insi-
tutes of Health (R01GM111480 to M.L.N.) and by an Al-
fred P. Sloan Fellowship to M.L.N.
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In summary, the S = 1/2 species formed in-situ in reac-
tions of simple ferric salts and MeMgBr originally ob-
served by EPR in the 1970s by Kochi has been isolated
and identified as [MgCl(THF)5][Fe8Me12]. While the
direct reaction of this species with electrophile generates
minimal cross-coupled product, reaction with electro-
phile followed by addition of MeMgBr leads to rapid
reaction to selectively form cross-coupled product. Im-
portantly, the identification of an iron cluster as a reac-
tive species in iron-catalyzed cross-coupling represents a
new paradigm in catalyst structure for such reactions,
contrasting previous proposals centered on mononuclear
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