Ruthenium-catalyzed Formation of Tertiary Amines from Nitrites and Alcohols

A ruthenium-catalyzed tertiary-amine formation was developed using the borrowing hydrogen strategy. Various tertiary amines were obtained efficiently from nitrites and primary alcohols. Two possible pathways were found for the tertiary-amine formation under RuCl3/dppf catalytic conditions. The nitrites mainly act as a nitrogen source in this kind of transformation.