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Updated: May 1, 2026

Imine Metathesis by Silica-Supported Catalysts Using the Methodology of Surface Organometallic Chemistry
Published on: October 18, 2019
Effective catalysis of imine metathesis by means of fast transiminations between aromatic-aromatic or
Maria Ciaccia1, Silvia Pilati, Roberta Cacciapaglia
1Dipartimento di Chimica, Sapienza Università di Roma and Istituto CNR di Metodologie Chimiche (IMC-CNR), Sezione Meccanismi di Reazione, c/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Sapienza Università di Roma, P.le A. Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy. stefano.distefano@uniroma1.it.
Abstract:
This paper reports on a quantitative investigation of rates of amine-imine exchange reactions of primary amines with their benzylidene derivatives in organic solvents at room temperature. Exchange reactions involving aromatic-aromatic or aromatic-aliphatic amines were in all cases fast enough to allow their use in the effective catalysis of imine metathesis in the absence of acid and metal catalysis. Transiminations based on exchange between aromatic and aliphatic amines were retarded both by electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents in the para-position of the benzylidene moiety. This result was interpreted as arising from a change in the rate-determining step of the two-step transimination reaction.
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