Despite the many recent developments in iron-catalysed cross-couplings, the mechanistic understanding of these reactions is lacking compared to the more studied palladium and nickel variants. Here, the authors find that during iron-catalysed Negishi reactions the diphosphine ligand predominately binds to the zinc—rather than the iron—centre.
- Antonis M. Messinis
- Stephen L. J. Luckham
- Robin B. Bedford