Anhydride-Additive-Free Nickel-Catalyzed Deoxygenation of Carboxylic Acids to Olefins

Abstract

A nickel-catalyzed route for direct, anhydride-additive-free deoxygenation of fatty acids to the corresponding olefins has been developed. The transformation is catalyzed by simple nickel salts of the type NiX2 (X = halide, acetate, acetylacetonate), uses PPh3 as a stoichiometric reductant, and exhibits selectivity for generation of linear α-olefin products. The reaction was rendered cocatalytic in PPh3 using 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane (TMDS) as terminal reductant for the in situ reduction of OPPh3 and catalytic Cu(OTf)2