Mild reduction with silanes and reductive amination of levulinic acid using a simple manganese catalyst

Abstract

A manganese-based catalytic system using the commercially available complex [Mn(CO)5Br] was studied for the selective reduction of levulinic acid (LA) to 2-methyl-tetrahydrofuran (MTHF). We further studied the production of pyrrolidines via its reductive amination using silanes (phenylsilane and tetramethyldisiloxane). The results showed high efficiency and selectivity for this reaction leading to high yields using mild reaction conditions.