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    Efficient and selective N-alkylation of amines with alcohols catalysed by manganese pincer complexes
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2016) Elangovan, Saravanakumar; Neumann, Jacob; Sortais, Jean-Baptiste; Junge, Kathrin; Darcel, Christophe; Beller, Matthias
    Borrowing hydrogen (or hydrogen autotransfer) reactions represent straightforward and sustainable C-N bond-forming processes. In general, precious metal-based catalysts are employed for this effective transformation. In recent years, the use of earth abundant and cheap non-noble metal catalysts for this process attracted considerable attention in the scientific community. Here we show that the selective N-alkylation of amines with alcohols can be catalysed by defined PNP manganese pincer complexes. A variety of substituted anilines are monoalkylated with different (hetero)aromatic and aliphatic alcohols even in the presence of other sensitive reducible functional groups. As a special highlight, we report the chemoselective monomethylation of primary amines using methanol under mild conditions.
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    Selective catalytic two-step process for ethylene glycol from carbon monoxide
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2016) Dong, Kaiwu; Elangovan, Saravanakumar; Sang, Rui; Spannenberg, Anke; Jackstell, Ralf; Junge, Kathrin; Li, Yuehui; Beller, Matthias
    Upgrading C1 chemicals (for example, CO, CO/H2, MeOH and CO2) with C-C bond formation is essential for the synthesis of bulk chemicals. In general, these industrially important processes (for example, Fischer Tropsch) proceed at drastic reaction conditions (>250 °C; high pressure) and suffer from low selectivity, which makes high capital investment necessary and requires additional purifications. Here, a different strategy for the preparation of ethylene glycol (EG) via initial oxidative coupling and subsequent reduction is presented. Separating coupling and reduction steps allows for a completely selective formation of EG (99%) from CO. This two-step catalytic procedure makes use of a Pd-catalysed oxycarbonylation of amines to oxamides at room temperature (RT) and subsequent Ru- or Fe-catalysed hydrogenation to EG. Notably, in the first step the required amines can be efficiently reused. The presented stepwise oxamide-mediated coupling provides the basis for a new strategy for selective upgrading of C1 chemicals.