Cp*-Iridium-Catalyzed Multialkylation of Ammonium Salts with Alcohols

Significance

The search for new efficient and versatile methods for amine synthesis has ­recently attracted considerable attention. Thus, the reaction of alcohols with ammonia or its salts is one of the most straightforward and convenient ways for their preparation. The authors found that iridium complexes efficiently catalyze this process, providing a simple access to a variety of secondary and tertiary amines from simple precursors. The further investigation in this direction will probably lead to the development of a general industrial process.