Nitrogen Fixation by Manganese Complexes – Waiting for the Rush?

Abstract

Manganese is currently experiencing a great deal of attention in homogeneous catalysis as a sustainable alternative to platinum group metals due to its abundance, affordable price and low toxicity. While homogeneous nitrogen fixation employing well‐defined transition metal complexes has been an important area of research in coordination chemistry, manganese derivatives have been only sporadically used in this research area. In this contribution, the authors systematically cover manganese organometallic chemistry related to N2 activation spanning almost 60 years, identify apparent pitfalls and outline encouraging perspectives for its future development.