Catalytic Leuckart-Wallach-Type reductive amination of ketones

M Kitamura, D Lee, S Hayashi, S Tanaka…

Index: Kitamura, Masato; Lee, Donghyun; Hayashi, Shinnosuke; Tanaka, Shinji; Yoshimura, Masahiro Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2002 , vol. 67, # 24 p. 8685 - 8687

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Citation Number: 94

Abstract

A Cp* Rh (III) complex catalyzes reductive amination of ketones using HCOONH4 at 50-70° C to give the corresponding primary amines in high yields. The reaction is clean and operationally simple and proceeds at a lower temperature and with higher chemoselectivity than the original Leuckart-Wallach reaction. The new method has been applied to the synthesis of α-amino acids directly from α-keto acids.