Primary amine- urea-mediated reactions

The last example focuses not on the functionalization of heterocycles by a transition metal mediated carbon-heteroatom bond forming reaction, but the palladium catalyzed conversion of primary amines, including amino-heterocycles, into urea derivatives. A representative example, shown in 8.38., includes the reaction of an amino-carbazole derivative with morpholine, carbon monoxide and oxygen in the presence of catalytic amounts of palladium(II) iodide. The formation of the urea moiety proceeds with great selectivity and in high yield.49 The reaction works equally well for primary aliphatic and aromatic amines. 

C-labeled carbamoyl compounds can be prepared by using a selenium-mediated reaction with [ carbon monoxide. The urea formation works excellent in the case of cyclizations but in other cases satisfactorily only with primary amines (Kihlberg et al. 2002). Since selenium is practically insoluble in most solvents the use of primary alkyl amines or tetrabutylammonium fluoride is necessary for the formation of soluble and reactive complexes with selenium. Except for ring closures, rhodium-promoted carbonylations are probably more useful than the corresponding selenium reactions (Ohad et al. 2009). 

---