Nitriles under palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation conditions as substitutes for aldehydes in the reaction with 1,2-amino alcohols: Formation of 1,3-oxazolidines and reductive N-alkylation

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4039(97)01728-0

At room temperature, the presence of hydrogen and catalytic amounts of Pd/C induced the formation of 1,3-oxazolidines from nitriles and 1,2-amino alcohols. The subsequent reductive cleavage of the NC-O bond of these heterocycles occurred under the same conditions. Thus, this methodology provides a new one-pot N-alkylation of 19-amino alcohols using nitriles as reagents with yields up to 98%.