The Role of Metal-Ligand Cooperation in Manganese(I)-Catalyzed Hydrogenation/Dehydrogenation Reactions

Abstract

The usage of earth-abundant metals as catalysts for chemical synthesis in order to install more sustainable reactions is a major goal in modern synthesis. Within the last few years, well-defined manganese complexes appeared in academic research and were proven to be a powerful player in the field of benign oxidation and reduction reactions. Hydrogenation of polarized double bonds such as aldehydes, ketones, esters, amides, and nitriles, but also carbon-carbon double bonds, can efficiently be achieved by well-defined manganese complexes. In the case of oxidation reactions, typical condensation reactions such as aldol condensation or Michael addition may be carried out with alcohols as starting material by in situ oxidation to carbonyl moieties, employing finely tuned manganese complexes. In this book chapter, we describe the development of the emerging field of manganese-catalyzed hydrogenation/dehydrogenation reactions in conjunction with metal-ligand cooperation processes.