2017-4-21, van Putten, Robbert, Uslamin, Evgeny A., Garbe, Marcel, Liu, Chong, Gonzalez-de-Castro, Angela, Lutz, Martin, Junge, Kathrin, Hensen, Emiel J. M., Beller, Matthias, Lefort, Laurent, Pidko, Evgeny A.

Catalytic hydrogenation of carboxylic acid esters is essential for the green production of pharmaceuticals, fragrances, and fine chemicals. Herein, we report the efficient hydrogenation of esters with manganese catalysts based on simple bidentate aminophosphine ligands. Monoligated Mn PN complexes are particularly active for the conversion of esters into the corresponding alcohols at Mn concentrations as low as 0.2 mol % in the presence of sub-stoichiometric amounts of KOtBu base.