Manganese Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Enantiornerically Pure Esters

A manganese-catalyzed hydrogenation of esters has been accomplished with TONs up to 1000, using cheap, environmentally benign, potassium carbonate and simple alcohols as activator and solvent, respectively. The weakly basic conditions lead to good functional group tolerance and enable the hydrogenation of enantiomerically enriched alpha-chiral esters with essentially no loss of stereochemical integrity.