AlCl3 has been employed for highly chemoselectivereductive amination of carbonylcompounds in ethanol using polymethylhydrosiloxane as an inexpensive, stable and safe reducingagent 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