Transfer Hydrogenation of Carbonyl Derivatives Catalyzed by an Inexpensive Phosphine-Free Manganese Precatalyst

A very simple and inexpensive catalytic system based on abundant manganese as transition metal and on an inexpensive phosphine-free bidendate ligand, 2-(aminomethyl)­pyridine, has been developed for the reduction of a large variety of carbonyl derivatives with 2-propanol as hydrogen donor. Remarkably, the reaction proceeds at room temperature with low catalyst loading (down to 0.1 mol %) and exhibits a good tolerance toward functional groups. High TON (2000) and TOF (3600 h^–1) were obtained.