Development of sustainable organic synthesis using abundant sodium and iron

March 25, 2025

A new chapter in the history of coupling reactions

An international collaboration between a group at RIKEN CSRS and a group at the University of Bern achieved a sustainable method for both homocoupling and cross-coupling reactions using sodium (Na) and iron (Fe), two Earth-abundant and environmentally friendly metals.

Homocoupling and cross coupling are fundamental reactions used for synthesizing complex molecules such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and organic electronic materials. However, traditional cross-coupling methods often rely on expensive and toxic palladium as the catalyst, and require organometallic reagents (boron, zinc, tin, etc.) that are frequently synthesized from less sustainable organolithium compounds. Consequently, there has been strong demand for more sustainable coupling reactions based on abundant resources.

The research group has developed a cross-coupling reaction using organosodium compounds as nucleophilic reagents and iron as the catalyst—both of which are abundant and ubiquitous elements on Earth. This report represents the first example of an iron-catalyzed coupling involving organosodium reagents. The discovery offers an alternative to the typically used rare metals in cross-coupling chemistry and lays the foundation for the next generation of sustainable organic synthesis.

 

Original article

Nature Synthesis doi: 10.1038/s44160-025-00771-1

I. Takahashi, A. Tortajada, D. E. Anderson, L. Ilies, E. Hevia, S. Asako,

"Iron-Catalysed Direct Coupling of Organosodium Compounds".

Contact

Laurean Ilies; Team Director
Sobi Asako; Senior Scientist
Advanced Organic Synthesis Research Team