Lewis acid-catalyzed direct amination of benzhydryl alcohols

The Lewis acid-mediated direct amination of benzylic alcohols is described, providing various benzylic amine derivatives in good yields under mild and environmentally benign conditions. Among the different Lewis acids tested, gold(III) proved to be the catalyst of choice for both chemical (yield, conversion) and practical reasons (a filtration over a silica pad is generally sufficient to obtain the corresponding benzylic amine in analytically pure form).