Hydrogenation of acrylic esters is an important group of reactions with which we gather useful products in different branches of the chemical industry. We synthesized a substituted acrylic ester (methyl 2-benzamido-3-(2-bromophenyl)acrylate) in two stages and then hydrogenated it using four different metal-based catalysts (Pd, Ru, Ir and Rh). Besides the hydrogenation reaction, dehalogenation reaction also occurred with 10 wt% Pd/C, even under mild reaction conditions. We successfully catalyzed the hydrogenation reaction with 10 mol% [Ir(1,5-COD)Cl]2, [Ir(OMe)(1,5-COD)]2, RuCl2(PPh3)3 and RhCl(PPh3)3, where full conversions occured. Minor conversions were shown using catalysts [Ru(p-cimen)Cl2]2, IrCl3 x H2O and [Ir(1,5-COD)Cl]2 with the addition of MandyPhos ligand.
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