Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 23, 2025

Synthesis of Esters Via a Greener Steglich Esterification in Acetonitrile
Published on: October 30, 2018
Recent Green and Sustainable Pd-Catalyzed Aminations
John Michael Saunders1, Kylee B Dismuke Rodriguez1, Robert M Lammert1
1Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
None:
Pd-catalyzed aminations, a powerful and commonly employed method of CN bond construction, often rely on unsustainable technologies that utilize egregious organic solvents, high temperatures, long reaction times, and high catalyst loadings, especially of palladium. Only recently there has been a shift toward far greener protocols based on recyclable aqueous media as well as nontraditional organic solvents. In addition, alternatives to batch methods for preparing the same amines have appeared, such as continuous flow and mechanochemistry, which also offer safe and sustainable means of chemical synthesis associated with targets in the fine chemicals industry.
Related Concept Videos
Preparation of Amines: Reductive Amination of Aldehydes and Ketones
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 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...
Reduction of Alkenes: Asymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation
The metal catalyst used can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. When hydrogenation of an alkene generates a chiral center, a pair of enantiomeric products is expected to form. However, an enantiomeric excess of one of the products can be facilitated using an enantioselective reaction or an...
Amines to Alkenes: Cope Elimination
Amides to Amines: LiAlH4 Reduction
Amide reduction requires two equivalents of the reducing agent, acting as a source of hydride ions. As shown in the figure, the reaction is initiated with a nucleophilic attack by the hydride ion at the carbonyl carbon to form a tetrahedral intermediate.

![[DPEPhosbcpCu]PF6: A General and Broadly Applicable Copper-Based Photoredox Catalyst](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.jove.com%2FCDNSource%2Fteasers%2F59739.jpg&w=3840&q=50)