Manganese Catalyzed Regioselective C-H Alkylation: Experiment and Computation.

A new efficient manganese-catalyzed selective C2-alkylation of indoles via carbenoid insertion has been achieved. The newly developed C-H functionalization protocol provides access to diverse products and shows good functional group tolerance. Mechanistic and computational studies support the formation of a Mn(CO)3 acetate complex as the catalytically active species.