Reductive alkylation of ammonia

Diphenylisoinclole (29) can be prepared by a modified Leuckart reaction of o-dibenzoylbenzene (46), using an ammonium salt of formic acid the process is essentially a reductive alkylation of ammonia, accompanied by cyclization, and leads to 29 in 44% yield with ammonium formate, and 47 in 28% yield with methylammonium formate. 1,3-Diphenylisoindole. (29) can also be obtained in good yield by the reaction of 46 with 1,1-dimethylhydrazine. ... 

Alkylation lo yield a leriiary amine may occur easily if the formation involves cyclization (ii). Catalysts may have a marked influence. In reductive alkylation of ammonia wilh cyclohexanones, more primary amine was formed over Ru and Rh and more secondary amine over Pd and Pt. Reduction of the ketone to an alcohol is an important side reaction over ruthenium. 

Sodium cyanoborohydride NaBIpCN in methanol is the reagent of choice for the reductive alkylation of ammonia, primary aliphatic and aromatic amines and secondary aliphatic amines with aldehydes and relatively unhindered ketones (equation 53). 

Eschweiler-Clarke modification org chem A modification of the Leuckart reaction, involving reductive alkylation of ammonia or amines (except tertiary amines) by formaldehyde and formic acid. esh,vTl-3r klark. mad-o-fo ka-shon ... 

Treatment of aldehydes or ketones with ammonia, primary or secondary amines in reducing media is called reductive alkylation (of ammonia or amines) or reductive amination (of aldehydes or ketones). Reducing agents are most frequently hydrogen in the presence of catalysts such as platinum, nickel or Raney nickel [955], complex borohydrides [705, 954, 955], formaldehyde or formic acid [522]. 

Reductive alkylation of ammonia should give primary amines, reductive alkylation of primary amines secondary amines, and reductive alkylation of secondary amines tertiary amines. In reality, secondary and even tertiary amines are almost always present to varying extents since the primary amines formed in the reaction of the carbonyl compounds with ammonia react with the carbonyl compounds to give secondary amines, and the secondary amines similarly afford tertiary amines according to Scheme 128. In addition, secondary amines may be formed, especially at higher temperatures, by additional reactions shown in Scheme 129. Depending on the ratios of the carbonyl compounds to ammonia or amines, different classes of amines predominate. 

Reductive Alkylation of Ammonia or Amines Hydro,dialkylamino-de-oxo-bisubstitution... 

When an aldehyde or a ketone is treated with ammonia or a primary or secondary amine in the presence of hydrogen and a hydrogenation catalyst (heterogeneous or homogeneous), reductive alkylation of ammonia or the amine (or reductive amination of the carbonyl compound) takes place.165 The reaction can formally be regarded as occurring in the following manner (shown for a primary amine), which probably does correspond to the actual sequence of steps 166... 

Hydrolysis of cyanamides 6-13 Addition of ammonia to aldehydes 6-15 Reductive alkylation of ammonia or amines... 

The Wallach-Leuckart reductive alkylation of ammonia, and primary and secondary amines, by means of aldehydes and ketones, and the methylation of secondary amines according to Clarke and Eschweiler,3160 all possess a reduction step which is very similar to that observed in the reduction of enamines.317... 

REDUCTIVE ALKYLATION OF AMMONIA WITH CARBONYL COMPOUNDS... 

Reductive alkylation of ammonia may proceed under mild conditions over nickel catalysts. In examples using Raney Ni, temperatures ranging from 40 to 150°C and hydrogen pressures of 2-15 MPa have been used to obtain satisfactory results.3,4 In general, the reductive alkylation of ammonia with carbonyl compounds may produce primary, secondary, and tertiary amines, as well as an alcohol, a simple hydrogenation product of the carbonyl compound (Scheme 6.1). The selectivity to respective amine depends primarily on the molar ratio of the carbonyl compound to ammonia, although the nature of catalyst and structure of the carbonyl compound are also important factors for the selectivity. As an example, the reaction of benzaldehyde in the presence of 1 equiv of ammonia in ethanol over Raney Ni gave benzylamine in an 89.4% yield while with 0.5 molar equivalent of ammonia dibenzylamine was obtained in an 80.8% yield (eq. 6.1).4... 

Scheme 6.1 Products of the reductive alkylation of ammonia with an aldehyde or ketone.

TABLE 6.1 Reductive Alkylation of Ammonia with Nonanala,i... 

The yields of primary amines over platinum oxide were improved in the presence of an excess molar equivalent of ammonium chloride in low pressure reductive alkylation of ammonia with ketones in methanol saturated with ammonia.10 With acetophenone and 4-methyl-2-pentanone, the yields of primary amine increased from 37 and 49% in the absence of ammonium chloride to 69 and 57-65%, respectively, in the presence of ammonium chloride. Moller obtained a much higher yield (>90%) of 1-phenethylamine from acetophenone by adding a small amount of acetic acid to methanol-ammonia with Raney Ni (eq. 6.6).15 The reductive amination of benzophenone in the presence of Raney Co and some ammonium acetate gave 70% yield ofbenzohy-drylamine, compared to only 19% under usual conditions with Raney Ni.3... 

In the reductive alkylation of ammonia with cyclohexanone, Skita and Keil found that, although cyclohexylamine was obtained in 50% yield over a nickel catalyst, over colloidal platinum dicyclohexylamine was produced as the predominant product even in the presence of an excess molar equivalent of ammonia. Steele and Rylander compared the selectivity to primary amine, secondary amine, and alcohol in the reductive alkylation of ammonia with 2- and 4-methylcyclohexanones over 5% Pd-, 5% Rh-, and 5% Ru-on-carbon as catalysts.18 As seen from the results shown in Table 6.2, the formation of secondary amine is greatly depressed by the methyl group at the 2 position. Thus over Pd-C the secondary amine was formed predominantly with cyclohexanone and 4-methylcyclohexanone while the primary amine was produced in 96% selectivity with 2-methylcyclohexanone. Over Ru-C the alcohol was formed quantitatively with 4-methylcyclohexanone without the formation of any amines, whereas with 2-methylcyclohexanone the alcohol was formed only to an extent of 57%, accompanied by the formation of 4 and 39% of the secondary and primary amines, respectively. These results indicate that secondary amine formation is affected by the steric hindrance of the methyl group to a much greater extents than is the formation of the primary amine or the alcohol. The results with Ru-C and Rh-C also indicate... 

TABLE 6.2 Reductive Alkylation of Ammonia with Cyclohexanones3 ... 

The preparation of tertiary amines by reductive alkylation of ammonia appears to find only limited application. Triethylamine and tripropylamine were prepared by hydrogenation of acetaldehyde and propionaldehyde, respectively, in the presence of ammonia over platinum catalyst.38 A high yield (84.1% by GC) of trinonylamine was... 

Reductive alkylation of ammonia has been proved an effective and highly versatile method for obtaining primary amines. The most satisfactory conditions have been catalytic hydrogenation (Raney nickel) of the carbonyl compound in an ethanolic solution of ammonia under pressure ranging from 20 to 150 atm. and at temperatures in the range of 40° to 150°. Typical amines prepared in this manner include benzyl-amine and 2-aminoheptane (80%). With liquid ammonia and no... 

Leuckart-Wallach reaction. Reductive alkylation of ammonia or of primary or secondary amines with carbonyl compounds and formic acid or formamides as reducing agents. 

Preparation of secondary amines by reductive alkylation of ammonia is not such a general reaction as that of primary amines. In the aliphatic series treating ammonia with 2 moles of a carbonyl compound usually affords a mixture of mono-, di-, and tri-alkylamines. However, 80-90% yields of the corresponding dibenzylamine are obtained from benzaldehyde or its o-chloro or o-methyl derivative.996... 

The Leuckart-Wallach reaction992 consists of the reductive alkylation of ammonia or an amine by a carbonyl compound with formic acid or a derivative thereof as reducing agent ... 

---