An Improved Ruthenium Catalyst for the Environmentally Benign Amination of Primary and Secondary Alcohols

Abstract
The N‐alkylation of amines in the presence of different ruthenium catalysts generated in situ was investigated. Among the various catalysts tested, the combination of [Ru3(CO)12] and N‐phenyl‐2‐(dicyclohexylphosphanyl)pyrrole showed the best performance. By applying this novel catalyst, a variety of functionalized alcohols and amines were converted into the corresponding secondary amines in high yield.