Synthesis and characterization of a CCC-NHC manganese complex and its catalytic activity in alpha-alkylation reactions of ketones using alcohols – acceptorless dehydrogenative coupling reaction

N-heterocyclic carbenes are essential for the synthesis and stabilization of various metal complexes due to the tendency to act as sigma-donor of sp2 hybridized lone pair in carbene into sigma-accepting orbital of metals. Meanwhile, the electronic and steric properties of pincer complexes can be fine-tuned by modifying three sites bonded to the metals. Utilizing advantages of both NHCs and the pincer structures, NHCs-based pincer complexes have become increasingly developed in recent years. After the discovery of zirconium and rhodium complexes with CCC-NHC backbones reported in 2005, Hollis’s group has been interested in applying the CCC-NHC pincer precursor for other transition metals. Manganese, the third most abundant transition metal in the earth’s crust, has lower cost and less toxic features compared to most of the others. Herein, the CCC-NHCs manganese pincer complex is synthesized and characterized and its catalytic activity in alpha- alkylation reaction of ketones using alcohols was studied