Synthesis of Primary Amines by One-Pot Reductive Amination of Aldehydes

We report here a novel, one-pot, two-step reductive amination of aldehydes for the atom-economical synthesis of primary amines. The amination step has been carried out with hydroxylammonium chloride and does not require the use of a base. In the subsequent reduction step, a metal zinc/hydrochloride acid system has been used. This method is applicable to both aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes. The operational simplicity, the short reaction times, and the mild reaction conditions add to the value of this method as a practical alternative to the reductive amination of aldehydes. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthetic Communications (R) to view the free supplemental file.