Ruthenium-catalyzed direct amination of alcohols with tertiary amines

A highly selective phosphine-based ruthenium catalyst system efficiently catalyzes the direct amination of alcohols with aliphatic tertiary amines, yielding unsymmetric tertiary amines in yields up to 87%. Ligand and solvent both affect the reaction yields significantly. The reaction can be performed with a wide variety of functionalities.

A novel direct amination of alcohols with tertiary amines catalyzed by ruthenium was developed. Solvents and ligands significantly affect the reaction yields and selectivities.