Access to Secondary Amines through Hydrogen Autotransfer Reaction Mediated by KO^tBu

Abstract

We have unveiled here an N‐alkylation reaction of amines by alcohols via hydrogen auto‐transfer. Unlike other catalytic systems containing transition metals or additives, potassium tertiary butoxide was found to be a unique and effective catalyst for synthesizing secondary amines. The role of the K+ ion and the reaction intermediates were studied under control experiments and by theoretical calculations. The reaction was found to be general and tolerates a series of functional groups providing a convenient method to synthesize N‐alkylated compounds.