Nickel nanoparticles catalyzed hydrogenation and deuteration for a general amine synthesis

Abstract

Amines represent fundamental motifs in various chemical contexts and are widely used in agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. The development of earth-abundant metal-based heterogeneous catalysts for the synthesis amines remains an important goal in terms of chemical research and industrial application/manufacture. Herein, we developed an efficient and highly selective nitrogen-doped nickel catalyst enriched with Lewis acid sites, which has been applied for to the hydrogenative coupling of nitriles and amines with molecular hydrogen for the synthesis of a train of functionalised and structurally diverse secondary and tertiary amines. Furthermore, catalytic hydrogenation and deuteration of nitriles were achieved under milder conditions, yielding a series of primary amines and deuterated amines with high deuterium incorporation.