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.

A general and benign iron-catalyzed α-alkylation reaction of ketones with primary alcohols has been developed. The key to success of the reaction is the use of a Knölker-type complex as catalyst (2 mol %) in the presence of Cs2 CO3 as base (10 mol %) under hydrogen-borrowing conditions. Using 2-aminobenzyl alcohol as alkylation reagent allows for the "green" synthesis of quinoline derivatives.

The syntheses of cycloruthenated compounds by several methods, and especially by the C-H activation pathway, have been reviewed. Many ruthenium-containing starting materials lead to these interesting organometallic compounds, which have found various applications in different fields of chemistry. Their reactivity highlights both the variety of reactions that were found to occur at the Ru-C bonds as well as the inertness of the organometallic moiety when these species are exposed to strongly oxidizing molecules or to reactive halogenation reagents. Their use as catalyst precursors showed them to be particularly efficient for hydrogenation reactions, either by H 2 or by hydride transfer.

Well-defined iron bis(diphosphine) complexes are active catalysts for the dehydrogenative C-H borylation of aromatic and heteroaromatic derivatives with pinacolborane. The corresponding borylated compounds were isolated in moderate to good yields (25-73%) with a 5 mol% catalyst loading under UV irradiation (350 nm) at room temperature. Stoichiometric reactivity studies and isolation of an original trans-hydrido(boryl)iron complex, Fe(H)(Bpin)(dmpe)2, allowed us to propose a mechanism showing the role of some key catalytic species.

Deprotonation of the MnI NHC‐phosphine complex fac‐[MnBr(CO)3(κ2P,C‐Ph2PCH2NHC)] (2) under a H2 atmosphere readily gives the hydride fac‐[MnH(CO)3(κ2P,C‐Ph2PCH2NHC)] (3) via the intermediacy of the highly reactive 18‐e NHC‐phosphinomethanide complex fac‐[Mn(CO)3(κ3P,C,C‐Ph2PCHNHC)] (6 a). DFT calculations revealed that the preferred reaction mechanism involves the unsaturated 16‐e mangana‐substituted phosphonium ylide complex fac‐[Mn(CO)3(κ2P,C‐Ph2P=CHNHC)] (6 b) as key intermediate able to activate H2 via a non‐classical mode of metal‐ligand cooperation implying a formal λ5‐P–λ3‐P phosphorus valence change. Complex 2 is shown to be one of the most efficient pre‐catalysts for ketone hydrogenation in the MnI series reported to date (TON up to 6200).

Racemization catalyst 5 c and the enzyme Candida antarctica lipase B were combined in a one-pot dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of primary amines in which a wide range of amines were transformed to their corresponding amides in up to 95 % isolated yield and >99 % ee. The DKR protocol was applicable with either isopropyl acetate or dibenzyl carbonate as the acyl donor. In the latter case, release of the free amine from the carbamate products was carried out under very mild conditions. The racemization of (S)-1-phenylethylamine with several different Ru catalysts was also evaluated. Catalyst 5 c, of the Shvo type, was able to selectively racemize amines and was also compatible with the reaction conditions used for DKR. A racemization study of three different amines with varying electronic properties was also performed. Competitive racemization of a 1:1 mixture of the deuterated and non-deuterated amine was carried out with 5 c and a primary kinetic isotope effect was observed for all three amines, providing support that the rate-determining step is beta-hydride elimination. The chemoenzymatic DKR protocol was applied to the synthesis of norsertraline (16) by using a novel route starting from readily available 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1-naphthylamine (1 o).

On a direct course to the aldehyde: Hydrosilylation catalyzed by a well‐defined N‐heterocyclic‐carbene–iron complex under UV irradiation enabled the selective reduction of esters to aldehydes (see scheme; Bn=benzyl, Mes=mesityl). The low catalyst loading and very mild reaction conditions make this chemoselective transformation a promising alternative to the reduction of esters with diisobutylaluminum hydride.

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