Ruthenium(II)-NNN-Pincer-Complex-Catalyzed Reactions Between Various Alcohols and Amines for Sustainable C−N and C−C Bond Formation

An air and moisture stable 2-hydroxypyridine based bifunctional ruthenium NNN-pincer complex catalyzed efficient (TON=42840) N-alkylation of amines under mild conditions. Surprisingly, with cyclic secondary amines this methodology selectively produced only amides. Notably, N-methylation of several amines was achieved by using methanol as a green methylating agent. Furthermore, with lower catalyst loading (0.2 mol%) and shorter reaction time (6 h) numerous substituted quinolines were synthesized from 2-aminobenzyl alcohols and secondary alcohols. The effectiveness of this protocol was further extended by successfully synthesizing 2-alkylaminoquinolines in a one-pot fashion from amino alcohol, aliphatic nitriles, and alcohols. Gram scale synthesis of various compounds was also investigated to demonstrate the synthetic applicability of this methodology. (Figure presented.).