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Updated: Aug 29, 2025

Imine Metathesis by Silica-Supported Catalysts Using the Methodology of Surface Organometallic Chemistry
Published on: October 18, 2019
Switching between Hydrogenation and Olefin Transposition Catalysis via Silencing NH Cooperativity in Mn(I) Pincer
Wenjun Yang1, Ivan Yu Chernyshov2, Manuela Weber3
1Inorganic Systems Engineering Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
While Mn-catalyzed (de)hydrogenation of carbonyl derivatives has been well established, the reactivity of Mn hydrides with olefins remains very rare. Herein, we report a Mn(I) pincer complex that effectively promotes site-controlled transposition of olefins. This reactivity is shown to emerge once the N-H functionality within the Mn/NH bifunctional complex is suppressed by alkylation. While detrimental for carbonyl (de)hydrogenation, such masking of the cooperative N-H functionality allows for the highly efficient conversion of a wide range of allylarenes to higher-value 1-propenybenzenes in near-quantitative yield with excellent stereoselectivities. The reactivity toward a single positional isomerization was also retained for long-chain alkenes, resulting in the highly regioselective formation of 2-alkenes, which are less thermodynamically stable compared to other possible isomerization products. The detailed mechanistic analysis of the reaction between the activated Mn catalyst and olefins points to catalysis operating via a metal-alkyl mechanism-one of the three conventional transposition mechanisms previously unknown in Mn complexes.
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