A team of US researchers claim to have invented a new rhodium catalyst system that can catalyse intramolecular cyclisations of aminoalkenes under mild conditions.

Created by John Hartwig of the University of Illinois, the reaction could significantly expand the scope of hydroaminations of olefins, one of the simplest ways to prepare alkylamines.

The reactions proceed with unactivated aminoalkenes containing primary or secondary amines, terminal or internal alkenes, and linkers that possess or lack substituents that bias the substrate toward cyclisation, Chemical and Engineering news reports.

Occurring at a low temperature, the reaction is not disrupted by spectator functional groups.

According to Melanie Sanford, a Chemist at the University of Michigan, the results "address an important problem in organic synthesis that had not been previously solved".

The development of catalytic processes for hydroaminations, which involves the addition of an N-H bond across the multiple bond of an alkene, allene, or alkyne has made a lot of progress, the researchers claim.

Source:

Expanding On Hydroaminations, 21/01/08
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i03/8603notw7.html

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