OXIDATIVE CARBONYL a-AMINATIONS USING AMMONIA

N-containing compounds, especially those containing an NH 2-substituent in the -position of a carbonyl group are of high importance (like e.g. amino acids). As a consequence, the development of synthesis methods to access these targets is of fundamental interest. Usually, the installation of the NH2 group requires the use of advanced reagents and/or multistep approaches. Ammonia represents the most readily available reactive source of nitrogen but so far, the direct use of ammonia to access -NH2-carbonyl derivatives is limited. In this project we now target the utilization of aqueous ammonia under oxidative conditions for the so far unprecedented direct free NH2-installation of different carbonyl compounds. This will provide a new efficient protocol to directly access valuable (chiral) products in an efficient and straightforward manner. Mario Waser