Tuneable Hydrogenation of Nitriles into Imines or Amines with a Ruthenium Pincer Complex under Mild Conditions

The selective hydrogenation of aromatic and aliphatic nitriles into amines and imines is described. Using a ruthenium pincer complex, the selectivity towards amines or imines can be controlled by simple parameter changes. The reactions are conducted under very mild conditions between 50–100 °C at 0.4 MPa H2 pressure without any additives at low catalytic loadings of 0.5–1 mol %, which results in quantitative conversions and high selectivity.