Manganese porphyrins catalyze selective C-H bond halogenations

A manganese porphyrin mediated reaction of different unactivated alkanes with sodium hypochlorite as the chlorine source was performed to obtain alkyl chlorides as major products with only trace amounts of oxygenation products. The regioselectivity and the preference for C[H.sub.2] groups in the aliphatic C-H bond chlorination could be attributed to nonbonded interactions between the alkyl groups on the substrates and the aryl groups of the manganese porphyrin.