A Highly Active Manganese Catalyst for Enantioselective Ketone and Ester Hydrogenation.

A new hydrogenation catalyst based on a manganese complex of a chiral P,N,N ligand has been found to be especially active for the hydrogenation of esters down to 0.1 mol % catalyst loading, and gives up to 97 % ee in the hydrogenation of pro-chiral deactivated ketones at 30-50 °C.