This work describes the use of cheap, safe, and easy‐to‐handle hydrosilatrane as the reductant in direct reductive amination reactions. This efficient method enables a facile, metal‐free access to secondary and tertiary amines from a wide range of aldehydes and ketones, with the synthesis of tertiary amines requiring no additives at all. This reaction demonstrates excellent functional group tolerance, chemoselectivity, and scalability.magnified image

An efficient method for the reduction of ketones with 1‐hydrosilatrane is described. In the presence of a Lewis base activator, the resulting secondary alcohols are rapidly formed in good to excellent yields (20 examples, 71–99 % yields). The relative bulkiness of 1‐hydrosilatrane also enables the diastereoselective reduction of (–)‐menthone to (+)‐neomenthol, and the use of a chiral alkoxide activator can lead to the enantioselective reduction of prochiral ketones.

The asymmetric direct reductive amination of prochiral ketones with aryl amines using 1-hydrosilatrane with a chiral Brønsted acid catalyst is reported. This is the first known example of chiral Brønsted acid-catalyzed asymmetric reductive amination using a silane as the hydride source. The reaction features a highly practical reducing reagent and proceeds efficiently at room temperature without a specialized reaction setup or equipment to exclude air or moisture. This method provides high conversion and enantiomeric excess up to 84% of the desired chiral secondary amines with minimal side products.

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