Reductive Amination of Ketonic Compounds Catalyzed by Cp*Ir(III) Complexes Bearing a Picolinamidato Ligand

Cp*Ir
complexes bearing a 2-picolinamide moiety serve as effective
catalysts for the direct reductive amination of ketonic compounds
to give primary amines under transfer hydrogenation conditions using
ammonium formate as both the nitrogen and hydrogen source. The clean
and operationally simple transformation proceeds with a substrate
to catalyst molar ratio (S/C) of up to 20,000 at relatively low temperature
and exhibits excellent chemoselectivity toward primary amines.