DQB Talks – Beatriz Royo

Manganese has recently emerged as an excellent metal for catalysis. The vast natural abundance of manganese-it is the third most abundant in Earth’s crust-together with its low price and non-toxicity render it a particularly attractive metal for catalysis. Recent advances have shown the impressive reactivity of this metal in various important organic transformations. Compared to the extensively employed pincer phosphine-derived ligands in Mn catalysis, the development of phosphine-free Mn catalytic systems remains poorly developed.¹ In this seminar, an overview of our recent work on catalysis with Mn complexes bearing N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands will be presented. Coordination of imidazoliumand triazolium-based NHCs to manganese allow us to prepare a new family of Mn complexes with interesting catalytic applications.² Having these complexes with varying electronic and steric properties, we have investigated their activity in a number of catalytic processes, including hydrosilylation, oxidation, borrowing hydrogen processes, and CO₂ reduction. The impact of the introduction of mesoionic and normal NHC ligands in the catalytic efficiency of the Mn complexes will be discussed.

References
1. Carney, J. R. ; Dillon, B. R.; Thomas, S. P. Eur. J. Chem. 2016, 3912-3929.
2. Friães, S.; Realista, S.; Mourão, M.; Royo, B. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2022, e202100884.