Iron-based catalysts for the hydrogenation of esters to alcohols.

Hydrogenation of esters is vital to the chemical industry for the production of alcohols, especially fatty alcohols that find broad applications in consumer products. Current technologies for ester hydrogenation rely on either heterogeneous catalysts operating under extreme temperatures and pressures or homogeneous catalysts containing precious metals such as ruthenium and osmium. Here, we report the hydrogenation of esters under relatively mild conditions by employing an iron-based catalyst bearing a PNP-pincer ligand. This catalytic system is also effective for the conversion of coconut oil derived fatty acid methyl esters to detergent alcohols without adding any solvent.

1,2,3,4-Tetrahydroisoquinolinyl sulfamic acids as phosphatase PTP1B inhibitors.

High-throughput screening of the P&GP corporate repository against several protein tyrosine phosphatases identified the sulfamic acid moiety as potential phosphotyrosine mimetic. Incorporation of the sulfamic acid onto a 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline scaffold provided a promising starting point for PTP1B inhibitor design.