An efficient and modular one-pot synthesis of polysubstituted aromatic amines by a mild reductive amination procedure is described and the biological potential of these nitrogen-centered compounds is demonstrated by growth inhibition of murine connective tissue cells and microscopy-based morphological studies.
An efficient metal-free procedure for the synthesis of tertiaryamines by the reductive amination of carbonyl compounds is reported, which allows a convergent access to sterically hindered amines of the general formulas NR(R′)2 and NRR′R″. The mild and operationally simple protocol uses the Hantzsch ester for transfer hydrogenation and catalytic amounts of thiourea for imine activation.