A facile, one-pot reductive alkylation of aromatic and heteroaromatic amines in aqueous micellar media: a chemoenzymatic approach

A facile, green, selective and practical method for the catalytic N-alkylation of amines using molecular hydrogen as the reductant was developed. This procedure involves a lipase-mediated one-pot chemoenzymatic cascade wherein an amine undergoes a reductive amination with an aldehyde generated in situ. The imine formed thereby is reduced to give the corresponding amine. This process represents a convenient, environmentally benign and scalable one-pot process for the synthesis of N-alkyl amines. We report for the first time chemoenzymatic reductive alkylation in aqueous micellar media with an E-factor of 0.68.