Reformation of Alcohols to Esters, Acids, Amides, Ureas, Polyureas and Polyethyleneimine by 3d-Metal Catalysts

Dehydrogenative processes for the catalytic up-conversion of alcohols into higher value products have continued to receive sustained attention over the past few years with a drive towards the application of more sustainable transition metals (i.e. earth-abundant metals) within these processes. This chapter discusses the recent developments in the field of metal-ligand cooperative (MLC) and 3d transition metal catalysts for alcohol reformation to various products such as esters, amines, acids, ureas, polyureas and polyethyleneimines. These MLC facilitated dehydrogenative processes are cost-effective and atom-economic routes to alcohol reformation products, often only producing hydrogen as the only by-product.