Lanthanide-oxo clusters for efficient catalytic reduction of carboxamides

The reduction of carboxamides into high value-added amines is a very interesting but great challenging topic. Herein we demonstrate that polynuclear lanthanide-oxo clusters Ln(16) (Ln = Eu and Gd) can be used as efficient catalyst to reduce primary and secondary carboxamides to amines with excellent yield of 71%-98% and broad substrates scope. The methodology can extend to the gram-scale synthesis of phenethylamine drug with 93% yield. Based on the isolation and characterization of catalytic intermediates, a catalytic mechanism involving multipath reaction is proposed. This work provides efficient lanthanide cluster catalysts for the reduction of carboxamides to amines.

Automated summary

In this study, polynuclear lanthanide-oxo clusters Ln(16) (Ln = Eu and Gd) were used as efficient catalysts for the reduction of primary and secondary carboxamides to amines, with yields ranging from 71% to 98% and a broad substrate scope. The methodology was further applied to the gram-scale synthesis of phenethylamine drug with a yield of 93%. Through the isolation and characterization of catalytic intermediates, a catalytic mechanism involving multipath reaction was proposed. This work provides efficient lanthanide cluster catalysts for the reduction of carboxamides to amines.