Intramolecular Alkene Hydroamination with Hybrid Catalysts Consisting of a Metal Salt and a Neutral Organic Base

Hybrid catalysts consisting of alkaline earth iodides (AeI2) and the Schwesinger base tBuP4 catalyse the intramolecular alkene hydroamination of H2C=CHCH2CR2CH2NH2 [CR2=CPh2, C(CH2)5, CMe2]. Activities decrease along the row: Ca > Sr >> Mg > Ba. Hybrid catalysts consisting of tBuP4 and ZnI2, AlI3, FeCI3 or NaI were found to be fully inactive. Also, the hybrid catalyst tBuP3/CaI2 was not active which means that the base strength of the non‐nucleophilic organic base must be higher than that of tBuP3 (pKa BH+ = 38.6). Combinations of tBuP4 with CaX2 (X = Cl, Br, OiPr, OTf, NTf2) were found to be fully inactive which may in part be explained by poor solubility. The hybrid catalysis method is therefore limited to the combination tBuP4/CaI2 but the iodide ligands may be partially or fully replaced by chiral ligands. Chiral modifications of the hybrid catalysts gave in intramolecular alkene hydroamination ee values up to 33 %