Expanding the utility of flow hydrogenation – a robust protocol restricting hydrodehalogenation

Abstract

A commonly observed limitation of conducting hydrogenations under flow chemistry conditions is hydrodehalogenation. In a bid to circumvent this limitation a series of hydrogenation catalysts were screened, with 5% Pt/C (sulfided) catalyst identified as an effective catalyst to selectively effect reductive aminations, nitro reduction, and alkene reductions in the presence of halogen atoms. Additionally the optimised protocol cleanly reduced imines in the presence of a furan moiety indicating potential amenability to other labile functionalities.