Gold-Catalyzed Reductive Transformation of Nitro Compounds Using Formic Acid: Mild, Efficient, and Versatile

Developing new efficient catalytic systems to convert abundant and renewable feedstocks into valuable products in a compact, flexible, and target-specific manner is of high importance in modern synthetic chemistry. Here, we describe a versatile set of mild catalytic conditions utilizing a single gold-based solid catalyst that enables the direct and additive-free preparation of four distinct and important amine derivatives (amines, formamides, benzimidazoles, and dimethlyated amines) from readily available formic acid (FA) and nitro starting materials with high level of chemoselectivity. By controlling the stoichiometry of the employed FA, which has attracted considerable interest in the area of sustainable chemistry because of its potential as an entirely renewable hydrogen carrier and as a versatile C1 source, a facile atom- and step-efficient transformation of nitro compounds can be realized in a modular fashion.