Tuneable Copper Catalysed Transfer Hydrogenation of Nitrobenzenes to Aniline or Azo Derivatives

Metal-free aromatic hydrogenation: aniline to cyclohexyl-amine derivatives.

Hydrogenation of the N-bound phenyl rings of amines, imines, and aziridine is achieved in the presence of H(2) and B(C(6)F(5))(3), affording the corresponding N-cyclohexylammonium hydridoborate salts.

Tuneable asymmetric copper-catalysed allylic amination and oxidation reactions.

Asymmetric allylic amination or oxidation can be achieved by reaction of an alkene with a peroxycarbamate catalysed by a chiral copper bis-oxazoline complex, and the reaction can be tuned to give either the amination or oxidation product by reagent choice.

Hydrogenation of Nitrobenzene to Aniline

Highly efficient transformation of levulinic acid into pyrrolidinones by iridium catalysed transfer hydrogenation.

Levulinic acid (LA) is transformed into pyrrolidinones via iridium-catalysed reductive amination using formic acid as the hydrogen source under aqueous conditions. The catalytic system is the most active and performs under the mildest conditions ever reported for the reductive amination of LA.

Asymmetric Hydrogenation and Transfer Hydrogenation of Ketones

Optically active alcohols are important building blocks in the synthesis of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, flavors and fragrances as well as functional materials (Arai & Ohkuma, 2011; Klingler, 2007). Furthermore, molecular hydrogen is without doubt the cleanest reducing agent, with complete atom efficiency. Therefore, the catalytic, asymmetric hydrogenation (AH) of prochiral k...