Umicore’s business unit, Precious Metals Chemistry, has announced the expansion of its cross-coupling catalyst portfolio following the exclusive licensing of the Hazari precatalysts from Yale University.
Based on palladium metal complexes, the Hazari precatalysts are named after Yale chemistry professor, Nilay Hazari, and provide scientists with the ability to perform cross-coupling reactions more efficiently under milder reaction conditions.
Cross-coupling reactions are one of the most versatile synthetic methods used to prepare various industrially important chemical intermediates through the creation of carbon-carbon bonds. Cross-coupling chemistry received international recognition in 2010 when Richard Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis”. It has since only become more widely used for the creation of various valuable chemicals, and cross-coupling chemistries are now an integral part of the agrochemicals, electronics, fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries.
The Hazari precatalysts are a series of air and moisture stable complexes that are compatible with a wide range of ancillary ligands, including N-heterocyclic carbenes, phosphine or even Buchwald-type ligands. In addition, these compounds can be activated much faster in comparison to existing catalysts. This means reaction times can be significantly shortened and catalyst loadings can be lowered, all while performing reactions under milder conditions.
By now offering the selection of Hazari’s precatalysts to its worldwide customers, Umicore is providing scientists with the tools to devise new routes to valuable industrial chemicals. Through its exclusive license, Umicore is able to provide full access to the technology from research through to commercial scale. In addition to the ligated complex, available for commercial scale manufacturing, Umicore offers an unligated dimeric version of the precatalyst, appropriate for ligand screening experiments.
This most recent expansion in its catalyst portfolio follows the announcement of the availability of the Buchwald precatalyst range in August, reflecting Umicore’s commitment to provide scientists with the best options to perform cross-coupling chemistry. Supplementing the availability of these cross-coupling technologies are the range of additional benefits working with Umicore brings to chemical synthesis. Umicore provides secured access to all of its proprietary and patent-protected technology, a range of supporting services to accelerate chemical synthesis, and an ever-expanding portfolio of homogeneous catalysts that includes the Grubbs Catalysts® Technology, the Buchwald precatalysts and many more.
