Selective reduction of carboxylic acids to aldehydes through manganese catalysed hydrosilylation

Selective ligand-free cobalt-catalysed reduction of esters to aldehydes or alcohols

Activated cobalt metal salts are effective and versatile catalysts for the chemoselective reduction of esters to aldehydes or alcohols through hydrosilylation reaction.

Carbonyl and ester C–O bond hydrosilylation using κ4-diimine nickel catalysts

(^Ph2PPrDI)Ni chemoselectively catalyzes α-allyl ester C–O bond hydrosilylation to prepare silyl esters with turnover frequencies of up to 990 h⁻¹.

Manganese catalyzed reductive amination of aldehydes using hydrogen as a reductant

The first alkylation of amines via reductive amination of aldehydes catalyzed by a manganese bidentate pyridinyl–phosphine complex.

The Emergence of Manganese-Based Carbonyl Hydrosilylation Catalysts

In recent years, interest in homogeneous manganese catalyst development has intensified because of the earth-abundant and nontoxic nature of this metal. Although compounds of Mn have largely been utilized for epoxidation reactions, recent efforts have revealed that Mn catalysts can mediate a broad range of reductive transformations. Low-valent Mn compounds have proven to be particularly effective for the hydrosilylation of carbonyl- and carboxylate-containing substrates, and this Account aims to highlight my research group's contributions to this field. In our initial 2014 communication, we reported that the bis(imino)pyridine-supported compound (^Ph2PPrPDI)Mn mediates ketone hydrosilylation with exceptional activity under solvent-free conditions. Silanes including Ph₂SiH₂, (EtO)₃SiH, (EtO)₂MeSiH, and (EtO)Me₂SiH were found to partially reduce cyclohexanone in the presence of (^Ph2PPrPDI)Mn, while turnover frequencies of up to 1280 min^-1 were observed using PhSiH₃. This led us to evaluate the hydrosilylation of 11 additional ketones and allowed for the atom-efficient preparation of tertiary and quaternary silanes. At that time, it was also discovered that (^Ph2PPrPDI)Mn catalyzes the dihydrosilylation of esters (by way of acyl C-O bond hydrosilylation) to yield a mixture of silyl ethers with modest activity. Earlier this year, the scope of these transformations was extended to aldehydes and formates, and the observed hydrosilylation activities are among the highest obtained for any transition-metal catalyst. The effectiveness of three related catalysts has also been evaluated: (^Ph2PPrPDI)MnH, (^PyEtPDEA)Mn, and [(^Ph2PEtPDI)Mn]₂. To our surprise, (^Ph2PPrPDI)MnH was found to exhibit higher carboxylate dihydrosilylation activity than (^Ph2PPrPDI)Mn, while (^PyEtPDEA)Mn demonstrated remarkable carbonyl hydrosilylation activity considering that it lacks a redox-active supporting ligand. The evaluation of [(^Ph2PEtPDI)Mn]₂ revealed competitive aldehyde hydrosilylation and formate dihydrosilylation turnover frequencies; however, this catalyst is significantly inhibited by pyridine and alkene donor groups. In our efforts to fully understand how (^Ph2PPrPDI)Mn operates, a thorough electronic structure evaluation was conducted, and the ground-state doublet calculated for this compound was found to exhibit nonclassical features consistent with a low-spin Mn(II) center supported by a singlet PDI dianion and an intermediate-spin Mn(II) configuration featuring antiferromagnetic coupling to PDI diradical dianion. A comprehensive mechanistic investigation of (^Ph2PPrPDI)Mn- and (^Ph2PPrPDI)MnH-mediated hydrosilylation has revealed two operable pathways, a modified Ojima pathway that is more active for carbonyl hydrosilylation and an insertion pathway that is more effective for carboxylate reduction. Although these efforts represent a small fraction of the recent advances made in Mn catalysis, this work has proven to be influential for the development of Mn-based reduction catalysts and is likely to inform future efforts to develop Mn catalysts that can be used to prepare silicones.

Dehydrogenative coupling of alcohols and carboxylic acids with hydrosilanes catalyzed by a salen–Mn(v) complex

A manganese–salen complex is shown to be effective in catalyzing the dehydrogenative coupling of hydroxyl groups with hydrosilane.

Direct catalytic N-alkylation of amines with carboxylic acids

A straightforward process for the N-alkylation of amines has been developed applying readily available carboxylic acids and silanes as the hydride source. Complementary to known reductive aminations, effective C-N bond construction proceeds under mild conditions and allows obtaining a broad range of alkylated secondary and tertiary amines, including fluoroalkyl-substituted anilines as well as the bioactive compound Cinacalcet HCl.

Catalytic hydrosilylation of oxalic acid: chemoselective formation of functionalized C2-products

Oxalic acid is an attractive entry to functionalized C₂-products because it can be formed by C–C coupling of two CO₂ molecules under electrocatalytic reduction. Herein, we describe the first attempts to reduce oxalic acid by catalytic hydrosilylation, using B(C₆F₅)₃ as a Lewis acidic catalyst.