Manganese-catalyzed homogeneous hydrogenation of ketones and conjugate reduction of α,/β-unsaturated carboxylic acid derivatives: A chemoselective, robust, and phosphine-free in situ-protocol

We communicate a user-friendly and glove-box-free catalytic protocol for the manganese-catalyzed hydrogenation of ketones and conjugated CCbonds of esters and nitriles. The respective catalyst is readily assembled in situ from the privileged [Mn(CO)(5)Br] precursor and cheap 2-picolylamine. The catalytic transformations were performed in the presence of t-BuOK whereby the corresponding hydrogenation products were obtained in good to excellent yields. The described system offers a brisk and atom-efficient access to both secondary alcohols and saturated esters avoiding the use of oxygen-sensitive and expensive phosphine-based ligands.