A manganese-based catalyst system for general oxidation of unactivated olefins, alkanes, and alcohols

Non-noble metal-based catalyst systems consisting of inexpensive manganese salts, picolinic acid and various heterocycles enable epoxidation of the challenging (terminal) unactivated olefins, selective C-H oxidation of unactivated alkanes, and O-H oxidation of secondary alcohols with aqueous hydrogen peroxide. In the presence of the in situ generated optimal manganese catalyst, epoxides are generated with up to 81% yield from alkenes and ketone products with up to 51% yield from unactivated alkanes. This convenient protocol allows the formation of the desired products under ambient conditions (room temperature, 1 bar) by employing only a slight excess of hydrogen peroxide with 2,3-butadione as a sub-stoichiometric additive.

Manganese N,N,N-Pincer Complex-catalyzed Epoxidation of Unactivated Aliphatic Olefins

A practical in situ generated manganese(II) catalyst system with the commercially available bis(2-picolyl) amine ligand enables epoxidation of terminal aliphatic olefins in good yields with tert-butyl hydroperoxide as oxidant. Crystallization...

Stoichiometric Photochemical Carbene Transfer by Bamford-Stevens Reaction

The photolysis of diazoalkanes is a timely strategy to conduct carbene-transfer reactions under mild and metal-free reaction conditions, and has developed as an important alternative to conventional metal-catalyzed carbene-transfer reactions. One of the major limitations lies within the rapidly occurring side reaction of the carbene intermediate with remaining diazoalkane molecules that result in the use of an excess of the reaction partner and thus impacts on the reaction efficiency. Herein, we describe a protocol that takes advantage of the in situ generation of donor-acceptor diazoalkanes by Bamford-Stevens reaction. Following this strategy, the concentration of the diazoalkane reaction partner can be minimized to reduce unwanted side reactions and to now conduct photochemical carbene transfer reactions under stoichiometric reaction conditions. We have explored this approach in the C-H and N-H functionalization and cyclopropanation reaction of N-heterocycles and could demonstrate the applicability of this method in 51 examples.