Selective alkylation of (hetero)aromatic amines with alcohols catalyzed by a ruthenium pincer complex.

A readily available pincer ruthenium(II) complex catalyzes the selective monoalkylation of (hetero)aromatic amines with a wide range of primary alcohols (including pyridine-, furan-, and thiophene-substituted alcohols) with high efficiency when used in low catalyst loadings (1 mol %). Tertiary amine formation via polyalkylation does not occur, making this ruthenium system an excellent catalyst for the synthesis of sec-amines.