Towards a Sustainable Synthesis of Formate Salts: Combined Catalytic Methanol Dehydrogenation and Bicarbonate Hydrogenation

Abstract Formate salts are important chemicals widely used in everyday products. The current industrial‐scale manufacture of formates requires CO at high pressure and harsh reaction conditions. Herein, we describe a new process for these products without the utilization of hazardous gases and chemicals. By application of ruthenium pincer complexes, a simultaneous methanol dehydrogenation and bicarbonate hydrogenation reaction proceeds, which provides a green synthesis of formate salts with excellent TON (>18 000), TOF (>1300 h −1 ), and yield (>90 %).