CATALYTIC ALKYL GROUP EXCHANGE REACTION OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY AMINES.

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00353a025

It has been shown that primary and secondary amines undergo alkyl group exchange reactions upon treatment with palladium catalyst as depicted in an operationally simple and efficient reaction which provides a convenient method for synthesis of unsymmetrical amines. The application of the reaction for the preparation of various substituted amines and heterocyclic compounds such as hexahydropyrimidine tetrahydropyrimidine, imidazolidine, and imidazoles is described. The preparation of polyamines such as H//2N(CH//2)//mNH(CH//2)//nNH//2 (10) and H//2N(CH//2)//lNH(CH//2)//mNH(CH//2)//nNH//2 (l-n, equals 2,3; 11) is readily performed by the appadium-catalyzed reactions of azetidine (6) and aziridine (7) via azetine (9) and azirine intermediates. The mechanism the palladium-catalyzed reaction has been extensively studied on the carbonylation, racemization, and deuteurium-exchange reaction of (S)-( minus )- alpha -phenylethylamine (17).