DirectN-Alkylation/Fluoroalkylation of Amines Using Carboxylic Acids via Transition-Metal-Free Catalysis

A scalable protocol of directN-mono/di-alkyl/fluoroalkylation of primary/secondary amines has been constructed with various carboxylic acids as coupling agents under the catalysis of a simple air-tolerant inorganic salt, K3PO4. Advantageous features include 100 examples, 10 drugs and drug-like amines, fluorinated complex tertiary amines, gram-scale synthesis and isotope-labelling amine, thus demonstrating the potential applicability in industry of this methodology. The involvement of relatively less reactive silicon-hydride compared with the traditional reactive metal-hydride or boron-hydride species required to reduce the amide intermediates presumably contributes to the remarkable functional group compatibility.