Chemoselective Reduction of Tertiary Amides to Amines Catalyzed by Triphenylborane

Abstract Triphenylborane (BPh 3 ) was found to catalyze the reduction of tertiary amides with hydrosilanes to give amines under mild condition with high chemoselectivity in the presence of ketones, esters, and imines. N , N ‐Dimethylacrylamide was reduced to provide the α‐silyl amide. Preliminary studies indicate that the hydrosilylation catalyzed by BPh 3 may be mechanistically different from that catalyzed by the more electrophilic B(C 6 F 5 ) 3 .