Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 16, 2025

Split-and-pool Synthesis and Characterization of Peptide Tertiary Amide Library
Published on: June 20, 2014
Synthesis of tertiary amines by direct Brønsted acid catalyzed reductive amination
Mohanad A Hussein1, An H Dinh, Vien T Huynh
1School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. t.v.nguyen@unsw.edu.au.
Abstract:
Tertiary amines are ubiquitous and valuable compounds in synthetic chemistry, with a wide range of applications in organocatalysis, organometallic complexes, biological processes and pharmaceutical chemistry. One of the most frequently used pathways to synthesize tertiary amines is the reductive amination reaction of carbonyl compounds. Despite developments of numerous new reductive amination methods in the past few decades, this reaction generally requires non-atom-economic processes with harsh conditions and toxic transition-metal catalysts. Herein, we report simple yet practical protocols using triflic acid as a catalyst to efficiently promote the direct reductive amination reactions of carbonyl compounds on a broad range of substrates. Applications of this new method to generate valuable heterocyclic frameworks and polyamines are also included.
Related Concept Videos
Preparation of Amines: Reductive Amination of Aldehydes and Ketones
Preparation of Amines: Reduction of Amides and Nitriles
Amides can be reduced to primary, secondary, and tertiary amines using catalytic hydrogenation, active metals like Fe,...
Preparation of 1° Amines: Gabriel Synthesis
Strong bases like NaOH or KOH deprotonate the phthalimide to form the corresponding anion, which acts as a nucleophile. Further, the anion attacks an...
Preparation of 1° Amines: Azide Synthesis
Azide ions act as good nucleophiles and react with unhindered alkyl halides to form alkyl azides. Alkyl azides do not participate in further nucleophilic substitution reactions, thereby eliminating the chances of polyalkylated products. Alkyl azides are reduced by hydride-based reducing agents, like lithium aluminum...
Preparation of Amines: Alkylation of Ammonia and Amines
Each alkylation step makes the nitrogen center more nucleophilic, which triggers successive alkylations until a quaternary ammonium salt is formed. Considering...
Amines to Amides: Acylation of Amines
Next, the second equivalent of amine serves as a Brønsted base and deprotonates the quaternary...

