General, Mild, and Selective Method for Desaturation of Aliphatic Amines

A novel method for desaturation of aliphatic amines into enamines as well as allylic and homoallylic amines has been developed. This general protocol operates via putative aryl hybrid Pd-radical intermediates, which combine the signature features of radical chemistry, a hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) process, and transition metal chemistry, a selective fihydride elimination step, to achieve efficient and selective desaturation of amines. These hybrid Pd-radical intermediates are efficiently generated under mild photo induced conditions and are capable of a 1,n-HAT (n = S-7) event at C(sp(3)) H sites. The selectivity of HAT is tunable by varying different auxiliaries, which highlight the generality of this method. Remarkably, this desaturation method, which operates under mild conditions and does not require employment of exogenous photosensitizers or oxidants, can be performed in a practical scalable fashion from simple amines.