Hydrosilylation of Aldehydes and Ketones Catalyzed by a 2-Iminopyrrolyl Alkyl-Manganese(II) Complex.

A well-defined and very active single-component manganese(II) catalyst system for the hydrosilylation of aldehydes and ketones is presented. First, the reaction of 5-(2,4,6-iPr3C6H2)-2-[N-(2,6-iPr2C6H3)formimino]pyrrolyl potassium (KL) and [MnCl2(Py)2] afforded the binuclear 2-iminopyrrolyl manganese(II) pyridine chloride complex [Mn2{κ2N,N'-5-(2,4,6-iPr3C6H2)-NC4H2-2-C(H)═N(2,6-iPr2C6H3)}2(Py)2(µ-Cl)2] 1. Subsequently, the alkylation reaction of complex 1 with LiCH2SiMe3 afforded the respective (trimethylsilyl)methyl-Mn(II) complex [Mn{κ2N,N'-5-(2,4,6-iPr3C6H2)-NC4H2-2-C(H)═N(2,6-iPr2C6H3)}(Py)CH2SiMe3] 2 in a good yield. Complexes 1 and 2 were characterized by elemental analysis, 1H NMR spectroscopy, Evans' method, FTIR spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. While the crystal structure of complex 1 has been identified as a binuclear entity, in which the Mn(II) centers present pentacoordinate coordination spheres, that of complex 2 corresponds to a monomer with a distorted tetrahedral coordination geometry. Complex 2 proved to be a very active precatalyst for the atom-economic hydrosilylation of several aldehydes and ketones under very mild conditions, with a maximum turnover frequency of 95 min-1, via a silyl-Mn(II) mechanistic route, as asserted by a combination of experimental and theoretical efforts, the respective silanes were cleanly converted to the respective alcoholic products in high yields.