Abstracto

Use of Homeopathic molecular iodine as a catalyst for green and direct reductive amination of aldehydes

Green approach, Homeopathic, Biomimetic, Molecular iodine, Hantzsch dihydropyridine ester, Reduction.

A novel green and rapid approach for the direct reductive amination of aldehydes using molecular iodine as catalyst under neutral conditions is described. The mild, acid- and metal-free process can be effected using even homeopathic level (as lowas 100 ppm) ofmolecular iodine as catalyst and utilizes the Hantzsch dihydropyridine (DHP) ester for transfer hydrogenation. The method allows the efficient synthesis of structurally diverse secondary amines and turnover number of up to 3000 has been achieved with activated substrates.