Direct Deamination of Primary Amines by Water To Produce Alcohols

Highly Efficient Synthesis of Amino Acids by Amination of Bio-Derived Hydroxy Acids with Ammonia over Ru Supported on N-Doped Carbon Nanotubes

The amino acids have extensive applications, and their productions from biomass-derived feedstocks are very attractive. In this work, the synthesis of amino acids by amination of bio-derived hydroxy acids with ammonia over different metallic nano-catalysts supported on various supports is studied. It is found that Ru nano-catalysts on the nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (Ru/N-CNTs) have an outstanding performance for the reaction. Different hydroxy acids can be catalytically converted into the corresponding amino acids with yields up to 70.0 % under mild conditions, which is higher than those reported. The reasons for the high efficiency of the catalyst are investigated, and the reaction pathway is proposed on the basis of control experiments.

Ruthenium-Catalyzed Deaminative Hydrogenation of Amino Nitriles: Direct Access to 1,2-Amino Alcohols

A new approach for the efficient and highly selective synthesis of 1,2-amino alcohols by direct reductive hydrolysis of N-formyl-protected α-amino nitriles is reported. The commercially available RuHCl(CO)(PPh₃ )₃ complex was found to be a suitable catalyst for this operationally simple protocol, in which no stoichiometric amounts of undesired metal waste are generated. The deaminative hydrogenation is performed at 55 bar of H₂ , using a 6:1 mixture of 1,4-dioxane/water as solvent. In addition, hydroxymethyl alcohols were prepared from cyanoketones under very similar conditions.