DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201600824
Communications
Ruthenium-Catalyzed Methylation of Amines with
Paraformaldehyde in Water under Mild Conditions
Dominic van der Waals, Leo. E. Heim, Christian Gedig, Fabian Herbrik, Simona Vallazza, and
[a]
Martin H. G. Prechtl*
Methylated amines are highly important for a variety of phar-
maceutical and agrochemical applications. Existing routes for
their formation result in the production of large amounts of
waste or require high reaction temperatures, both of which
impact the ecological and economical footprint of the method-
ologies. Herein, we report the ruthenium-catalyzed reductive
methylation of a range of aliphatic amines, using paraformal-
dehyde as both substrate and hydrogen source, in combina-
tion with water. This reaction proceeds under mild aqueous re-
action conditions. Additionally the use of a secondary phase
for catalyst retention and recycling has been investigated with
promising results.
scope was, however, noted to be limited, and reaction temper-
atures of 1508C were required. Similarly, the classical amine
[11]
methylation Eschweiler–Clarke reaction,
which needs an
excess of both formic acid and formaldehyde, requires high
temperatures, 120–1608C, with long reaction times and results
[6]
in the formation of various side products. In these reactions,
the formaldehyde is believed to condense with the amine,
with the resulting imine becoming reduced by the formic acid.
The use of a metal catalyst to directly hydrogenate the imine
intermediate or substrate has been reported to negate the
need for the formic acid; many, primarily noble metal, catalysts
[12–14]
have been reported for this methodology.
Our interest in formaldehyde as a C building block originat-
1
ed from the recent publications whereby aqueous formalde-
Methylamines are ubiquitous in both natural products as well
as throughout synthetic organic molecules. Key examples in-
hyde solutions were shown to liberate H in the presence of
2
[15–17]
a
robust ruthenium catalyst, [Ru(p-cymene)Cl ] .
This
2
2
[
1,2]
clude their use in drug molecules as well as their occurrence
mechanism was thought to proceed through the dehydrogen-
ation of methanediol, the favourable product formed upon
formaldehyde hydration, to formic acid. Further work showed
that formaldehyde could be trapped as an intermediate in the
catalytic reforming of paraformaldehyde (pFA) in aqueous solu-
[
3–5]
within natural molecules such as neurotransmitters.
One existing method for the methylation of amines involves
the use of a methylating agents, which, whilst effective, can
[6]
result in over-methylation to yield quaternary amine salts.
[18]
Alternative single-carbon sources have also been investigated.
A recent seminal publication by Leitner et al. reports the use of
CO as the C source for the methylation of anilinic amines
tions to yield methanol. It was speculated that the use of
a nucleophilic substrate, such as an amine, could attack the
formaldehyde intermediate yielding an iminium cation and
then undergo subsequent reduction to lead to a single sub-
strate acting as both the carbon and hydrogen source in the
methylation of amines for synthetic applications (Scheme 1).
The high importance of formaldehyde as a chemical reagent
for current and future technologies is reflected in more than
2
1
using a ruthenium catalyst. The proposed mechanism is be-
lieved to proceed through the formation of a formamide fol-
[
7]
lowed by subsequent reduction. This work was built upon in
a later publication detailing the reductive methylation of
[
8]
imines. Beller et al. reported an alternative ruthenium system
with an expanded substrate scope that included aliphatic
50 industrial processes in which formaldehyde plays a key role
[
9]
[15,19–21]
amines. Formic acid has been reported as a C source in the
for the manufacture of products used in daily life.
The
1
direct methylation of a range of primary and secondary aro-
product variety covers processed wood, paints, cosmetics,
resins, polymers, adhesives besides many others. Formalde-
hyde is usually processed in the liquid and even aqueous
phase. All these industries merge to a multi-billion-dollar
market based on more than 30 mega tons per year of formal-
[
10]
matic amines as recently reported by Cantat et al. In analogy
to CO protocols, a ruthenium triphos catalyst with triflimide
2
additive has been used to activate formic acid instead of CO2.
It has been proposed that the reaction proceeds through
a mechanism involving the formation of a formamide inter-
mediate with subsequent reduction. The reaction substrate
[15,19–21]
dehyde as building block and cross-linker.
Currently,
>35% of the world methanol production is converted into
formaldehyde, which turns formaldehyde into the number one
product directly derived from methanol. In this context, it is
feasible to find further processes using paraformaldehyde
owing to its safe handling, availability and the fact that it can
be derived from biomass (currently via syngas and methanol
synthesis); this will turn paraformaldehyde into a bulk reagent
[a] Dr. D. van der Waals, L. E. Heim, C. Gedig, F. Herbrik, S. Vallazza,
Dr. M. H. G. Prechtl
Department Chemie
Universitꢀt zu Kçln
Greinstrasse 4-6, 50939 Cologne (Germany)
E-mail: martin.prechtl@uni-koeln.de
Homepage: www.catalysislab.de
available from renewable sources in future biomass- and C -
1
[15–17,19–21]
based industries.
Additionally, there are processes
under development to decompose residual formaldehyde from
ChemSusChem 2016, 9, 1 – 6
1
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&
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