Mono-N-methylation of anilines with methanol catalyzed by a manganese pincer-complex

Antoine Bruneau-Voisine (1) , Ding Wang (1) , Vincent Dorcet (1) , Thierry Roisnel (1) , Christophe Darcel (1) , Jean-Baptiste Sortais (1)

1 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes

The selective mono-N-methylation of anilines derivs. was achieved under mild conditions using inexpensive methanol as C1 source. Under hydrogen borrowing conditions, using a tridentate PN3P manganese pre-catalyst (5 mol%), a catalytic amt. of base (20 mol%), for 24 h at 120 °C, a large variety of anilines derivs. was methylated in good to excellent yield. Mechanistic investigations allowed us to isolate and characterize by X-ray diffraction studies a de-aromatized manganese intermediate.

Domains: Chemical Sciences

Antoine Bruneau-Voisine, Ding Wang, Vincent Dorcet, Thierry Roisnel, Christophe Darcel, et al.. Mono-N-methylation of anilines with methanol catalyzed by a manganese pincer-complex. Journal of Catalysis, 2017, 347, pp.57-62. ⟨10.1016/j.jcat.2017.01.004⟩. ⟨hal-01475818⟩