Progress in Late Transition Metal-Catalyzed N-Alkylation of Amines with Alcohols

N-Alkylation of amines is a class of important organic reaction. The products of this reaction are related to the important technological fields including chemical, medical, pharmaceutical and defense. In recent years, the development and need of green catalytic synthesis technology make such C-N bond formation reaction via N-alkylation become one of the current research focuses of organic chemistry. Because water is the only by-product, the N-alkylation of amines with alcohols as alkylating agents is green, environmental, simple and reliable. However, the most of such reactions require a late transition metal catalyst. In this paper the progress in late transition metal-catalyzed N-alkylation reaction with alcohols as alkylating agents starting from various aliphatic, aromatic and heterocyclic aromatic amines in recent years is reviewed. Various homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic systems as well as the substrate application scope of each method involved in this reaction are mainly introduced. The expectation and development direction about this N-alkylation in future are suggested.