Highly Selective and Practical Iron‐Catalyzed Formal Hydrogenation of Epoxides to Primary Alcohols Using Formic Acid

A highly selective, efficient and practical method for synthesizing primary alcohols was presented. By using cheap Fe(BF4)2 ⋅ 6H2O and /tris[2‐(diphenylphosphino)phenyl]phosphine (L1) as catalysts with formic acid as hydrogen source, a variety of primary alcohols bearing versatile functional groups could be obtained from both alkyl‐ and aryl‐substituted epoxides under mild conditions. Highly selective and efficient synthesis of primary alcohols from epoxides could be achieved under mild conditions by iron catalysis, this process used formic acid as hydrogen source and was suitable for both alkyl‐ and aryl‐substituted epoxides.