Synthesis of β-Diamine Building Blocks by Photocatalytic Hydroamination of Enecarbamates with Amines, Ammonia and N-H Heterocycles

3‐Amino‐substituted saturated nitrogen heterocycles are an important subclass of β‐diamines, appearing in a number of clinical agents. Herein, we report a unified approach to these products based upon the regioselective photoredox‐mediated hydroamination of enecarbamates. The amine coupling partner can encompass diverse amine types under a single set of reaction conditions, including primary alkyl amines, ammonia, aryl and heteroaryl amines, and N−H heterocycles. The method enables the synthesis of a wide range of pharmaceutically relevant building blocks.

Small Molecule Activation by Two-Coordinate Acyclic Silylenes

In recent decades, the chemistry of stable silylenes (R2Si:) has evolved significantly. The first major development in this chemistry was the isolation of a silicocene which is stabilized by the Cp* (Cp* = η5-C5Me5) ligand in 1986 and subsequently the isolation of a first N-heterocyclic silylene (NHSi:) in 1994. Since the groundbreaking discoveries, a large number of isolable cyclic silylenes and higher coordinated silylenes, i.e. Si(II) compounds with coordination number greater than two, have been prepared and the properties investigated. However, the first isolable two-coordinate acyclic silylene was finally reported in 2012. The achievements in the synthesis of acyclic silylenes have allowed for the utilization of silylenes in small molecule activation including inert H2 activation, a process previously exclusive to transition metals. This minireview highlights the developments in silylene chemistry, specifically two-coordinate acyclic silylenes, including experimental and computational studies which investigate the extremely high reactivity of the acyclic silylenes.

Direct Catalytic Conversion of Furfural to Furan-derived Amines in the Presence of Ru-based Catalyst

The production of amine intermediates from biomass is capturing increasing attention. Herein, a simple and efficient preparation of l furan-derived amines was developed [e.g., 1-(furan-2-yl)-4-methylpentan-2-amine] with high yield (up to 95 %) from (E)-1-(furan-2-yl)-5-methylhex-1-en-3-one. The catalyst used was Ru/C, and it was recyclable up to the fourth cycle. To further realize cost-efficiency, a one-reactor tandem concept was attempted. To this aim direct reaction from furfural was investigated. A high yield (74 %) towards 1-(furan-2-yl)-4-methylpentan-2-amine could be achieved starting directly from furfural in the presence of methyl isobutyl ketone, NH₃ , H₂ , and Ru/C catalyst.

Streamlined Synthesis of Diaminopyridines by Pd-Catalyzed Ammonia Coupling with Deactivated Amino-Chloropyridines

An efficient and cost-effective two-step synthesis of diaminopyridines, fundamental building blocks of biologically active compounds, is reported. The advantages over previously reported routes include cost and wider availability of the bromo-chloropyridine starting materials and the straightforward accessibility to an extended array of diaminopyridine regioisomers. The key enabler of this synthetic strategy is the development of an unprecedented palladium-catalyzed coupling reaction of ammonia with chloropyridines deactivated by the presence of an alkylamino substituent. The coupling reaction was accomplished with very low catalyst loadings under remarkably mild reaction conditions, making the system particularly suitable for both academic and industrial applications. The utility of this methodology is exemplified by the application to the synthesis of highly relevant scaffolds, including the synthetic intermediates of the marketed drugs Ribociclib and Palbociclib.

Direct Amination of Alcohols Catalyzed by Aluminum Triflate: An Experimental and Computational Study

Among the best-performing homogeneous catalysts for the direct amination of activated secondary alcohols with electron-poor amine derivatives, metal triflates, such as aluminum triflate, Al(OTf)₃ , stand out. Herein we report the extension of this reaction to electron-rich amines and activated primary alcohols. We provide detailed insight into the structure and reactivity of the catalyst under working conditions in both nitromethane and toluene solvent, through experiment (cyclic voltammetry, conductimetry, NMR spectroscopy), and density functional theory (DFT) simulations. Competition between aniline and benzyl alcohol for Al in the two solvents explains the different reactivities. The catalyst structures predicted from the DFT calculations were validated by the experiments. Whereas a S_N 1-type mechanism was found to be active in nitromethane, we propose a S_N 2 mechanism in toluene to rationalize the much higher selectivity observed when using this solvent. Also, unlike what is commonly assumed in homogeneous catalysis, we show that different active species may be active instead of only one.

A General Palladium-Phosphine Complex To Explore Aryl Tosylates in the N-Arylation of Amines: Scope and Limitations

The scope and limitations of the monoselective N-arylation of various amines by using aryl and hetaryl tosylates are presented. The air-stable and easily accessible Pd(OAc)₂ /CM-phos {CM-phos=2-[2-(dicyclohexylphosphino)phenyl]-1-methyl-1H-indole}catalyst system was able to deal with a wide range of aryl tosylate substrates as well as amine nucleophiles, including primary and secondary cyclic/acyclic aliphatic amines and anilines. NH-Bearing heterocycles such as indole, carbazole, pyrrole, 10-phenothiazine, and 10-phenoxazine were shown to be feasible coupling partners under this catalytic system. The described reaction conditions tolerate a wide range of functional groups and allow an array of aromatic amines as well as unsymmetrical amine products to be easily accessed from the various phenolic derivatives. Interestingly, this catalyst system even offers the opportunity to perform the reaction in water medium. We also report the intermolecular coupling of optically active α-central chiral amines with aryl tosylates without erosion of the enantiomeric purity.

Selective Hydrogenation of Nitriles to Primary Amines by using a Cobalt Phosphine Catalyst

A general procedure for the catalytic hydrogenation of nitriles to primary amines by using a non-noble metal-based system is presented. Co(acac)₃ in combination with tris[2-(dicyclohexylphosphino)ethyl]phosphine efficiently catalyzes the selective hydrogenation of a wide range of (hetero)aromatic and aliphatic nitriles to give the corresponding amines.

Using aqueous ammonia in hydroaminomethylation reactions: ruthenium-catalyzed synthesis of tertiary amines

The direct synthesis of tertiary amines from ammonia and olefins is presented. Using a combination of Ru3 (CO)12 and 2-phosphino-substituted imidazole ligand as catalyst system allows for hydroaminomethylation reactions of bulk aliphatic and functionalized olefins. Tertiary amines are obtained in an atom-efficient domino process in moderate to good isolated yields (45-76%) with excellent regioselectivities (n/iso up to 99:1).

Primary amines by transfer hydrogenative reductive amination of ketones by using cyclometalated Ir(III) catalysts

Cyclometalated iridium complexes are found to be versatile catalysts for the direct reductive amination (DRA) of carbonyls to give primary amines under transfer-hydrogenation conditions with ammonium formate as both the nitrogen and hydrogen source. These complexes are easy to synthesise and their ligands can be easily tuned. The activity and chemoselectivity of the catalyst towards primary amines is excellent, with a substrate to catalyst ratio (S/C) of 1000 being feasible. Both aromatic and aliphatic primary amines were obtained in high yields. Moreover, a first example of homogeneously catalysed transfer-hydrogenative DRA has been realised for β-keto ethers, leading to the corresponding β-amino ethers. In addition, non-natural α-amino acids could also be obtained in excellent yields with this method.

Unusual N-H activation of 2-aminopyrimidine: supramolecular assembly into an Ag(I) metal-organic framework

A rare example of coordination at the amino group of NH2 pym (2-aminopyrimidine) relevant to N-H activation is described that leads to a novel Ag(I) -imide 3D metal-organic framework (MOF). The coordination of Ag(I) to NH2 pym produced an electron-withdrawing effect and thus increased its acidity, which facilitated the N-H activation and the subsequent formation of the Ag-imide bond. A cooperative metalation/deprotonation process for the N-H activation of NH2 pym is suggested. Interestingly, photoluminescence of 1 is switched on at the low temperature of 77 K.

BippyPhos: a single ligand with unprecedented scope in the Buchwald-Hartwig amination of (hetero)aryl chlorides

Over the past two decades, considerable attention has been given to the development of new ligands for the palladium-catalyzed arylation of amines and related NH-containing substrates (i.e., Buchwald-Hartwig amination). The generation of structurally diverse ligands, by research groups in both academia and industry, has facilitated the accommodation of sterically and electronically divergent substrates including ammonia, hydrazine, amines, amides, and NH heterocycles. Despite these achievements, problems with catalyst generality persist and access to multiple ligands is necessary to accommodate all of these NH-containing substrates. In our quest to address this significant limitation we identified the BippyPhos/[Pd(cinnamyl)Cl]2 catalyst system as being capable of catalyzing the amination of a variety of functionalized (hetero)aryl chlorides, as well as bromides and tosylates, at moderate to low catalyst loadings. The successful transformations described herein include primary and secondary amines, NH heterocycles, amides, ammonia and hydrazine, thus demonstrating the largest scope in the NH-containing coupling partner reported for a single Pd/ligand catalyst system. We also established BippyPhos/[Pd(cinnamyl)Cl]2 as exhibiting the broadest demonstrated substrate scope for metal-catalyzed cross-coupling of (hetero)aryl chlorides with NH indoles. Furthermore, the remarkable ability of BippyPhos/[Pd(cinnamyl)Cl]2 to catalyze both the selective monoarylation of ammonia and the N-arylation of indoles was exploited in the development of a new one-pot, two-step synthesis of N-aryl heterocycles from ammonia, ortho-alkynylhalo(hetero)arenes and (hetero) aryl halides through tandem N-arylation/hydroamination reactions. Although the scope in the NH-containing coupling partner is broad, BippyPhos/[Pd(cinnamyl)Cl]2 also displays a marked selectivity profile that was exploited in the chemoselective monoarylation of substrates featuring two chemically distinct NH-containing moieties.