1/24/2012 - Oxidative Addition of the Carbon-Hydrogen Bonds of Neopentane to a Iridium(I) Complex

   In this organometallic reaction we are presented with a carbon hydrogen bond activation where the bond is cleaved.  These reactions are very important in modern chemistry as it is able to turn very cheap organic molecules into functionally expensive organic molecules.  In this reaction in particular, developed in 1982 by J.K Hoyano and W.A.G Graham out of the University of Alberta, it harnesses photochemical energy to cause an Iridium (I) organometallic complex to take up the neopentane molecule and to strip a hydrogen from the alkane.  The resulting complex contains the same number of metal carbon bonds, as there is a CO group leaving during the reaction, but there is a new Metal hydrogen bond created as the activation.

Image: Taken from source below
Source: J.K Hoyano, W.A.G Graham. J. Am. Chem. SOC. 1982, 104, 3123-3125