Recent Advances in Amine Synthesis by Catalytic Hydroaminomethylation of Alkenes

Carbon–carbon coupling catalyzed by transition metals represents a powerful synthetic method to have an access to organic molecules, especially when they present a significant complexity. The strategy to transform abundant and not expensive reactants into products of pharmaceutical interest by the appropriate catalytic way is of fundamental interest, provided that high conversion rates and selectivities can be gained. During the past decade, considerable progress has been made to transform a simple alkene into an aldehyde by carbonylation, to condense it with an NH function-containing molecule present in the medium, and to hydrogenate the resulting imine or enamine into the relevant amine. Rhodium complexes are able to catalyze this series of reactions and be an efficient synthetic tool to produce rather sophisticated amines in one-pot reactions under mild conditions of pressure and temperature. In the future, the production of various amines required by the industry of fine chemicals looks attractive by means of this catalytic method.