Characterization of Iron <sup>R</sup>Py<sub>2</sub>N<sub>2</sub> Azamacrocyclic Complexes as Carbon-Carbon Coupling Catalysts

The goal of this project is to offer a more economic and environmentally friendly, alternative carbon-carbon coupling catalyst complex to what is used industrially today. Carbon-carbon coupling is a common reaction performed in the industrial production of organic materials through routes that use palladium and platinum catalysts. These metals, however, are both economically and environmentally costly to acquire. It has previously been demonstrated that iron-containing complexes can be used as an alternative to the precious metal complexes. For example, Brewer et al. demonstrated the carbon-carbon coupling ability of iron RPyN3 complexes and characterized the mechanism. Based on these results, we have developed a RPy2N2 series and the iron congeners for C-C catalysis. We characterized the C-C reactivity to understand the relationship between the catalytic performance and the number of pyridine rings and pyridine substitution.