Oxidative Cleavage of Alkenes by O-2 with a Non-Heme Manganese Catalyst

Zhiliang Huang, Renpeng Guan, Muralidharan Shanmugam, Elliot L. Bennett, Craig M. Robertson, Adam Brookfield, Eric J. L. McInnes, Jianliang Xiao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The oxidative cleavage of C═C double bonds with molecular oxygen to produce carbonyl compounds is an important transformation in chemical and pharmaceutical synthesis. In nature, enzymes containing the first-row transition metals, particularly heme and non-heme iron-dependent enzymes, readily activate O2 and oxidatively cleave C═C bonds with exquisite precision under ambient conditions. The reaction remains challenging for synthetic chemists, however. There are only a small number of known synthetic metal catalysts that allow for the oxidative cleavage of alkenes at an atmospheric pressure of O2, with very few known to catalyze the cleavage of nonactivated alkenes. In this work, we describe a light-driven, Mn-catalyzed protocol for the selective oxidation of alkenes to carbonyls under 1 atm of O2. For the first time, aromatic as well as various nonactivated aliphatic alkenes could be oxidized to afford ketones and aldehydes under clean, mild conditions with a first row, biorelevant metal catalyst. Moreover, the protocol shows a very good functional group tolerance. Mechanistic investigation suggests that Mn-oxo species, including an asymmetric, mixed-valent bis(μ-oxo)-Mn(III,IV) complex, are involved in the oxidation, and the solvent methanol participates in O2 activation that leads to the formation of the oxo species.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10005-10013
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume143
Issue number26
Early online date23 Jun 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Jul 2021

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Manchester Institute of Biotechnology

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