Catalytic cross-coupling of ketones and secondary alcohols with primary alcohols is reported. An abundant manganese-based pincer catalyst catalyzes the reactions. Low loading of catalyst (2 mol %) and catalytic use of a mild base (5–10 mol %) are sufficient for efficient cross-coupling. Various aryl and heteroaryl ketones are catalytically cross-coupled with primary alcohols to provide the selective α-alkylated products. Challenging α-ethylation of ketones is also attained using ethanol as an alkylating reagent. Further, direct use of secondary alcohols in the reaction results in in situ oxidation to provide the ketone intermediates, which undergo selective α-alkylation. The reaction proceeds via the borrowing hydrogen pathway. The catalyst oxidizes the primary alcohols to aldehydes, which undergo subsequent aldol condensation with ketones, promoted by catalytic amount of Cs₂CO₃, to provide the α,β-unsaturated ketone intermediates. The hydrogen liberated from oxidation of alcohols is used for hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated ketone intermediates. Notably either water or water and dihydrogen are the only byproducts in these environmentally benign catalytic processes. Mechanistic studies allowed inferring all of the intermediates involved. Dearomatization–aromatization metal–ligand cooperation in the catalyst facilitates the facile O–H bond activation of both primary and secondary alcohols, and the resultant manganese alkoxide complexes produce corresponding carbonyl compounds, perhaps via β-hydride elimination. The manganese(I) hydride intermediate plays dual role as it hydrogenates α,β-unsaturated ketones and liberates molecular hydrogen to regenerate the catalytically active dearomatized intermediate. Metal–ligand cooperation allows all of the manganese intermediates to exist in same oxidation state (+1) and plays an important role in these catalytic cross-coupling reactions.

Nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NPC) materials were successfully synthesized via a Zn-containing metal-organic framework (Zn-MOF). The resulting NPC materials are characterized using various physicochemical techniques which indicated that the NPC materials obtained at different carbonization temperatures exhibited different properties. Pristine MOF morphology and pore size are retained after carbonization at particular temperatures (600 °C-NPC₆₀₀ and 800 °C-NPC₈₀₀). NPC₈₀₀ material shows an excellent surface area 1192 m²/g, total pore volume 0.92 cm³/g and displays a higher CO₂ uptake 4.71 mmol/g at 273 k and 1 bar. Furthermore, NPC₆₀₀ material displays good electrochemical sensing towards H₂O₂. Under optimized conditions, our sensor exhibited a wide linearity range between 100 µM and 10 mM with a detection limit of 27.5 µM.