Manganese‐Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Sclareolide to Ambradiol

Abstract The hydrogenation of (+)‐Sclareolide to (−)‐ambradiol catalyzed by a manganese pincer complex is reported. The hydrogenation reaction is performed with an air‐ and moisture‐stable manganese catalyst and proceeds under relatively mild reaction conditions at low manganese and base loadings. A range of other esters could be successfully hydrogenated leading to the corresponding alcohols in good to quantitative yields using this easy‐to‐make catalyst. A scale‐up experiment was performed leading to 99.3 % of the isolated yield of (−)‐Ambradiol.