Hydrosilylation of Aldehydes by a Manganese α-Diimine Complex

This paper describes the catalytic activity of air stable and easy to handle manganese complexes towards the hydrosilylation of aldehydes. These catalysts incorporate a bulky diazabutadiene ligand and exhibit good functional group tolerance and chemoselectivity in the hydrosilylation of aldehydes, utilizing primary silanes as the reducing agent. The reactions proceed with turnover frequencies approaching 150 h(-1) in some instances, similar to those observed for other manganese-based catalysts. The conversion of aromatic aldehydes to the corresponding alcohols was found to be more efficient than that for the analogous aliphatic systems.