A manganese(I)tricarbonyl-catalyst for near-room-temperature alkene and alkyne hydroarylation

Developing more efficient catalytic processes using abundant and low toxicity transition metals is key to enable their mainstream use in synthetic chemistry. We have rationally designed a new Mn(I)-catalyst for hydroarylation reactions that displays much improved catalytic activity over the commonly used MnBr(CO)5. Our new catalyst, MnBr(CO)3(MeCN)2, avoids the formation of the off-cycle manganacycle-(CO)4 species responsible for low catalyst activity, allowing near room temperature hydroarylation of alkenes and alkynes with broad functional group tolerance including late stage functionalization and diversification of bioactive molecules.