Ruthenium-catalyzed reductive deamination and tandem alkylation of aniline derivatives
We developed two new catalytic transformations of anilines via oxidative addition of CeN bonds to ruthenium centers. One is ruthenium-catalyzed reductive deaminatoindeamination of N-alkylated oacylanilines. The other one is catalytic coupling of N-alkylated o-acylanilines with olefins giving orthoalkylated aromatic ketones via CeN bond cleavage. This reaction involves a ruthenium hydride species as an intermediate, formed after b-hydride elimination from the ruthenium amide species.