Microwave-Assisted Nickel-Catalyzed Rapid Reductive Coupling of Ethyl 3-iodopropionate to Adipic Acid

Abstract 3-iodopropionic acid (3-IPA) can be efficiently synthesized from the glycerol derivative glyceric acid (GA), which is a potential biomaterial-based platform molecule. In this report, ethyl 3-iodopropionate was rapidly dimerized to diethyl adipate in a microwave reactor using NiCl 2 ·6H 2 O as a catalyst, co-catalyzed by Mn and the 1, 10-Phenanthroline monohydrate ligand. Under the optimum reaction conditions, diethyl adipate can be obtained with 84% yield at 90 °C in just 5 min. Diethyl adipate was hydrolyzed to obtain the adipic acid (AA) in 89% yield with an acid catalyst. AA is an important chemical and a monomer for producing a wide range of high-performance polymeric substances. This rapid coupling method is also applicable to other alkyl halides. Graphic Abstract