Biomimetic reductive amination under the continuous-flow reaction conditions

Domino Hydrogenation-Reductive Amination of Phenols, a Simple Process To Access Substituted Cyclohexylamines

Phenols can be efficiently reduced by sodium formate and Pd/C as the catalyst in water and in the presence of amines to give the corresponding cyclohexylamines. This reaction works at rt for 12 h or at 60 °C under microwave dielectric heating for 20 min. With the exception of aniline, primary, secondary amines, amino alcohols, and even amino acids can be used as nucleophiles. The reductive process is based on a sustainable hydrogen source and a catalyst that can be efficiently recovered and reused. The protocol was developed into a continuous-flow production of cyclohexylamines in gram scale achieving very efficient preliminary results (TON 32.7 and TOF 5.45 h(-1)).

An efficient synthesis of optically active trifluoromethyl aldimines via asymmetric biomimetic transamination

This communication describes a chiral base-catalyzed asymmetric [1,3]-proton shift of trifluoromethyl ketimines, giving a wide variety of trifluoromethyl aldimines containing various functional groups with up to 94% ee.