Abstract
Diethylzinc (Et2Zn) can be used as an efficient and chemoselective catalyst for the reduction of tertiary amides under mild reaction conditions employing cost-effective polymeric silane (PMHS) as the hydride source. Crucial for the catalytic activity was the addition of a substoichiometric amount of lithium chloride to the reaction mixture. A series of amides containing different additional functional groups were reduced to their corresponding amines, and the products were isolated in good-to-excellent yields.