Sustainable and Selective Alkylation of Deactivated Secondary Alcohols to Ketones by Non‐bifunctional Pincer N‐heterocyclic Carbene Manganese

Abstract A sustainable and green route to access diverse functionalized ketones via dehydrogenative–dehydrative cross‐coupling of primary and secondary alcohols is demonstrated. This borrowing hydrogen approach employing a pincer N‐heterocyclic carbene Mn complex displays high activity and selectivity. A variety of primary and secondary alcohols are well tolerant and result in satisfactory isolated yields. Mechanistic studies suggest that this reaction proceeds via a direct outer‐sphere mechanism and the dehydrogenation of the secondary alcohol substrates plays a vital role in the rate‐limiting step.