Manganese-Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Sclareolide to Ambradiol

Abstract

The hydrogenation of (+)-Sclareolide to (−)-ambradiol catalyzed by a manganese pincer complex is reported. The hydrogenation reaction is performed with an air- and moisture-stable manganese catalyst and proceeds under relatively mild reaction conditions at low manganese and base loadings. A range of other esters could be successfully hydrogenated leading to the corresponding alcohols in good to quantitative yields using this easy-to-make catalyst. A scale-up experiment was performed leading to 99.3 % of the isolated yield of (−)-Ambradiol.