Highly efficient hydrogenation of biomass-derived levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone catalyzed by iridium pincer complexes

Abstract

A highly efficient catalytic method for hydrogenation of biomass-derived levulinic acid has been developed and the iridium trihydride complexes of PNP pincer ligands were found to be extremely active catalysts for this transformation, providing γ-valerolactone in high yields with TONs as high as 71 000.