Abstract
A nickel-catalyzed route for direct, anhydride-additive-free deoxygenation of fatty acids to the corresponding olefins has been developed. The transformation is catalyzed by simple nickel salts of the type NiX2 (X = halide, acetate, acetylacetonate), uses PPh3 as a stoichiometric reductant, and exhibits selectivity for generation of linear alpha-olefin products. The reaction was rendered cocatalytic in PPh3 using 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane (TMDS) as terminal reductant for the in situ reduction of OPPh3 and catalytic Cu(OTf)(2).