A General and Environmentally Benign Catalytic Reduction of Nitriles to Primary Amines

Primary function: The ruthenium-catalyzed hydrogenation of nitriles to give primary amines has been examined in detail with 18 different aromatic and aliphatic nitriles. Superior performance was achieved by using an in situ catalyst, [Ru(cod)methylallyl2] (cod=1,5-cyclooctadiene) and DPPF (see scheme).