Nickel-Catalyzed N-Alkylation of Acylhydrazines and Arylamines Using Alcohols and Enantioselective Examples.

A borrowing-hydrogen reaction between amines and alcohols is an atom-economic way to prepare alkylamines, ideally with water as the sole byproduct. Herein, nickel catalysts are used for direct N-alkylation of hydrazides and arylamines using racemic alcohols. Moreover, a nickel catalyst of (S)-binapine was used for an asymmetric N-alkylation of benzohydrazide with racemic benzylic alcohols.