658-25-3

Herein we report the synthesis of primary and secondary amines by nitrile hydrogenation, employing a borrowing hydrogenation strategy. A class of phosphine-free manganese(I) complexes bearing sulfur side arms catalyzed the reaction under mild reaction conditions, where ammonia-borane is used as the source of hydrogen. The synthetic protocol is chemodivergent, as the final product is either primary or secondary amine, which can be controlled by changing the catalyst structure and the polarity of the reaction medium. The significant advantage of this method is that the protocol operates without externally added base or other additives as well as obviates the use of high-pressure dihydrogen gas required for other nitrile hydrogenation reactions. Utilizing this method, a wide variety of primary and symmetric and asymmetric secondary amines were synthesized in high yields. A mechanistic study involving kinetic experiments and high-level DFT computations revealed that both outer-sphere dehydrogenation and inner-sphere hydrogenation were predominantly operative in the catalytic cycle.

The synthesis of a new bidentate (NN)–Mn(I) complex is reported and its catalytic activity towards the reduction of ketones and nitriles is studied. On comparing the reactivity of various other Mn(I) complexes supported by benzimidazole ligand, it was observed that the Mn(I) complexes bearing 6-methylpyridine and benzimidazole fragments exhibited the highest catalytic activity towards monohydrosilylation of ketones and dihydrosilylation of nitriles. Using this protocol, a wide range of ketones were selectively reduced to the corresponding silyl ethers. In case of unsaturated ketones, the chemoselective reduction of carbonyl group over olefinic bonds was observed. Additionally, selective dihydrosilylation of several nitriles were also achieved using this complex. Mechanistic investigations with radical scavengers suggested the involvement of radical species during the catalytic reaction. Stoichiometric reaction of the Mn(I) complex with phenylsilane revealed the formation of a new Mn(I) complex.

Two important goals of green chemistry are to maximize the efficiency of reactants and to minimize the production of waste. In this study, a novel approach to improve the atom economy of a chemical process was developed by incorporating a direct cycle between a co-product and a reactant of the same reaction. To demonstrate this concept, recoverable 3,4-diphenylmaleic anhydride (1) was designed and used for the atom-economical synthesis of aliphatic primary amines from aqueous ammonia. In each individual cycle, only ammonia and alkyl halide were consumed, and 1 was recovered in nearly a quantitative yield. In this approach for developing atom-economical protecting agents, 1 showed good performance as a recoverable protecting agent for primary amines. The broad substrate scope, good tolerance to various reaction conditions, and high reaction and recovery rates make 1 a valuable complement to conventional primary amine protecting agents.

Thermodynamic dissociation constants in various water-organic solvent mixtures are given for benzylammonium, benzyldialkylammonium, and (2-phenylethyl)ammonium ions.Deviations from the Hammett equation (Eqn. 1) are similar to those observed for carboxylic acids, but of opposite sign.The extended Hammett equation (Eqn. 3), containing the hydrophobic constant, ?, yields good correlations.Derived secondary normal sigma values are exemplified.