Platinum-Catalyzed Direct Amination of Allylic Alcohols under Mild Conditions: Ligand and Microwave Effects, Substrate Scope, and Mechanistic Study

Transition metal-catalyzed amination of allylic compounds via a π-allylmetal intermediate is a powerful and useful method for synthesizing allylamines. Direct catalytic substitution of allylic alcohols, which forms water as the sole coproduct, has recently attracted attention for its environmental and economical advantages. Here, we describe the development of a versatile direct catalytic amination of both aryl- and alkyl-substituted allylic alcohols with various amines using Pt-Xantphos and Pt-DPEphos catalyst systems, which allows for the selective synthesis of various monoallylamines, such as the biologically active compounds Naftifine and Flunarizine, in good to high yield without need for an activator. The choice of the ligand was crucial toward achieving high catalytic activity, and we demonstrated that not only the large bite-angle but also the linker oxygen atom of the Xantphos and DPEphos ligands was highly important. In addition, microwave heating dramatically affected the catalyst activity and considerably decreased the reaction time compared with conventional heating. Furthermore, several mechanistic investigations, including 1H and 31P{1H} NMR studies; isolation and characterization of several catalytic intermediates, Pt(xantphos)Cl2, Pt(η2-C3H5OH)(xantphos), etc; confirmation of the structure of [Pt(η3-allyl)(xantphos)]OTf by X-ray crystallographic analysis; and crossover experiments, suggested that formation of the π-allylplatinum complex through the elimination of water is an irreversible rate-determining step and that the other processes in the catalytic cycle are reversible, even at room temperature.