Catalytic Disproportionation of Formic Acid to Methanol using Recyclable Silylformates

Clément Chauvier (1) , Arnaud Imberdis (1) , Pierre Thuéry (1) , Thibault Cantat (1)

1 LCMCE - Laboratoire de Chimie Moléculaire et de Catalyse pour l'Energie (ex LCCEF)

A novel strategy to prepare methanol from formic acid without external reductant is presented. The overall process described herein consists in the disproportionation of silyl formates to methoxysilanes catalyzed by ruthenium complexes and the production of methanol thereof by simple hydrolysis. Aqueous solutions of MeOH (> 1 mL, > 70 % yield) were prepared in this manner. The sustainability of the reaction has been established by the recycling of the silicon-containing byproducts with cheap, readily available and environmentally-benign reagents.

Keywords: disproportionation; formic acid; silyl formate; methanol; ruthenium

Domains: Chemical Sciences; Coordination chemistry; Chemical Sciences; Catalysis

Clément Chauvier, Arnaud Imberdis, Pierre Thuéry, Thibault Cantat. Catalytic Disproportionation of Formic Acid to Methanol using Recyclable Silylformates. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020, 59 (33), pp.14019-14023. ⟨10.1002/anie.202002062⟩. ⟨cea-02559737⟩