Alkylation of amines is of particular interest for the pharmaceutical  industry due to the numerous drugs that contain alkylamino  functionalities. As part of our research on the development of  efficient, atom economical and environmentally friendly processes, we  were searching for a highly active catalyst for the alkylation of amines  using alcohols as latent electrophiles. We have designed and  prepared a series of new Ir-NHC-OH complexes and test their catalytic  activity. The reaction parameters were optimized and catalyst 1 provided  the best catalytic performance. A large variety of secondary and  tertiary amine products have been obtained in high yields. A low  catalyst loading can be used, and the reactions are run under base-free  conditions. An excess of any of the reagents is not needed. A solid  supported version of the catalyst has been prepared.

Preparation of homogeneous Ir complexes containing a bidentate "NHC-OH" ligand and its application to alkylation of amines with alcohols

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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