Manganese-Catalyzed Sustainable Synthesis of Pyrroles from Alcohols and Amino Alcohols

The development of reactions that convert alcohols into important chemical compounds saves our fossil carbon resources as alcohols can be obtained from indigestible biomass such as lignocellulose. The conservation of our rare noble metals is of similar importance, and their replacement by abundantly available transition metals, such as Mn, Fe, or Co (base or nonprecious metals), in key technologies such as catalysis is a promising option. Herein, we report on the first base-metal-catalyzed synthesis of pyrroles from alcohols and amino alcohols. The most efficient catalysts are Mn complexes stabilized by PN5P ligands whereas related Fe and Co complexes are inactive. The reaction proceeds under mild conditions at catalyst loadings as low as 0.5 mol%, and has a broad scope and attractive functional-group tolerance. These findings may inspire others to use Mn catalysts to replace Ir or Ru complexes in challenging dehydrogenation reactions.