An efficient heterogenized palladium catalyst for N-alkylation of amines and α-alkylation of ketones using alcohols

Abstract

A silica supported palladium–NiXantphos complex is reported as an efficient and a high turnover heterogeneous catalyst for the N-alkylation of amines and the α-alkylation of ketones using readily available alcohols under neat conditions at 120–140 °C following hydrogen borrowing strategy. The catalyst is easily separable and offers negligible amount of palladium leaching (<0.01 ppm). A high turnover number of about 46 000 for the N-alkylation of amines and 4400 for the α-alkylation of ketones were achieved in the respective single batch reactions. The catalyst is recyclable up to four times without appreciable change in catalytic performance.