Development of catalysts for the hydroamination of olefins

Studies on the development of palladium, nickel, and rhodium catalysts for the hydroamination of dienes and vinylarenes are described. Enantioselective catalysts based on palladium have been developed for the addition of arylamines to dienes and for Markovnikov addition of arylamines to vinylarenes. In addition, nickel catalysts for the addition of aliphatic amines to dienes have been developed and rhodium catalysts for the first transition metal-catalyzed aminations of vinylarenes that generate terminal amines as the major product are described. Mechanistic data on the hydroamination of vinylarenes with palladium and rhodium is also provided.