PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

As a complementary approach to current asymmetric synthetic methods, a direct transformation of styrenes into 1-phenylethylamines was developed. The one-pot process represents a formal hydroamination of a non-activated alkene with ammonia and is based on the combination of a Pd/Cu-catalyzed Wacker-oxidation with an enzymatic transamination. A key feature of this process is the compartmentation of the catalytic systems, which turned out to be essential to avoid deactivation of the transaminase by the Cu-component. This one-pot synthesis can be applied to a broad substrate range, which leads to the chiral amines with high conversions and excellent enantioselectivities of >99% ee.