A new phosphine-free Co(ii) complex-catalyzed synthesis of various quinoxalines via dehydrogenative coupling of vicinal diols with both o-phenylenediamines and 2-nitroanilines is reported. This complex was also effective for the synthesis of quinolines. The practical aspect of this catalytic system was revealed by the one-pot synthesis of 2-alkylaminoquinolines.

A simple air- and moisture-stable, highly efficient ruthenium NNN pincer complex is reported for the first time to catalyze the tandem transformation of various aromatic and aliphatic nitro compounds into the corresponding N-methylated amines in up to 98 % yield by using methanol as a green methylating agent. Gram-scale reactions of challenging nitro substrates demonstrated the practical application aspects of this catalytic system. Importantly, the N-methylamine moiety could be smoothly introduced to various complex molecular structures without using any expensive palladium/phosphine/amine-based cross-coupling reactions.

The inexpensive and simple NiBr2/1,10-phenanthroline system-catalyzed synthesis of a series of quinoxalines from both 2-nitroanilines and 1,2-diamines is demonstrated. The reusability test for this system was performed up to the seventh cycle, which afforded good yields of the desired product without losing its reactivity significantly. Notably, during the catalytic reaction, the formation of the heterogeneous Ni-particle was observed, which was characterized by PXRD, XPS, and TEM techniques.

Direct and selective synthesis of N,N-dimethylated amines from nitriles using methanol as C1 building blocks is reported using an air- and moisture-stable ruthenium complex. Following this process, various aromatic as well as aliphatic nitriles were converted to the corresponding N-methylated amines. Interestingly, tandem C-methylation as well as N-methylation was achieved by introducing multiple methyl groups. The practical aspect of this process was revealed by preparative-scale reactions with different nitriles and the synthesis of anti-allergic drug “avil”. Several kinetic experiments and detailed DFT calculations were carried out to understand the mechanism of this process.

Ru(II) catalyzed tandem synthesis of α-branched methylated ketones via multicomponent reactions following the hydrogen borrowing process is described. This nonphosphine-based air and moisture stable catalyst efficiently produced various methylated ketones using methanol as a methylating agent. This system was found to be highly effective in three-component coupling between methanol, primary alcohols, and methyl ketones. A proposed catalytic cycle for the α-methylation is supported by DFT calculations as well as kinetic experiments.

A series of Mn(i) complexes bearing amine and benzimidazole fragment containing ligands were investigated in the TH of ketones and imines.

Catalytic activities of a series of functional bipyridine-based Ru complexes in β-alkylation of secondary alcohols using primary alcohols were investigated. Bifunctional Ru complex (3 a) bearing 6,6'-dihydroxy-2,2'-bipyridine (6DHBP) ligand exhibited the highest catalytic activity for this reaction. Using significantly lower catalyst loading (0.1 mol %) dehydrogenative carbon-carbon bond formation between numerous aromatic, aliphatic and heteroatom substituted alcohols were achieved with high selectivity. Notably, for the synthesis of β-alkylated secondary alcohols this protocol is a rare one-pot strategy using a metal-ligand cooperative Ru system. Remarkably, complex 3 a demonstrated the highest reactivity compared to all the reported transition metal complexes in this reaction.

A convenient and highly efficient in situ generated Ru(ii) system for synthesizing functionalized amines and mechanistic studies and comparison with iridium systems is presented.