Synthesis of substituted amines and isoindolinones: catalytic reductive amination using abundantly available AlCl3/PMHS

AlCl3 has been employed for highly chemoselective reductive amination of carbonyl compounds in ethanol using polymethylhydrosiloxane as an inexpensive, stable and safe reducing agent without an inert atmosphere. A large range of functional groups such as nitro, carboxylic acid, acetyl, nitrile, halogen, methoxy, alkene and heterocycles were well tolerated. AlCl3 also catalyzed tandem amination–amidation of 2-carboxybenzaldehyde with different amines to afford N-substituted isoindolinones. The catalyst can be recycled at least three times without any significant effect on activity and selectivity.