Abstract Due to the lability of one of the CO ligands in trans-[Fe (PNP)(CO) 2 Cl]+ this compound is an efficient catalyst for the coupling of a series of aromatic aldehydes with ethyl diazoacetate (EDA), which give, in most cases, selectively 3-hydroxyacrylates rather than β- oxo esters. This reaction is strongly dependent on the nature of the counterion. Whereas with BF 4–the reaction proceeds with conversions up to 90%, in the case of the ...
