green and scalable aldehyde-catalyzed transition metal-free dehydrative n-alkylation of amides and amines with alcohols
in contrast to the borrowing hydrogen-type n-alkylation reactions, in which alcohols were activated by transition metal-catalyzed anaerobic dehydrogenation, the addition of external aldehydes was accidentally found to be a simple and effective protocol for alcohol activation. this interesting finding subsequently led to an efficient and green, practical and scalable aldehyde-catalyzed transition metal-free dehydrative n-alkylation method for a variety of amides, amines, and alcohols. mechanistic studies revealed that this reaction most possibly proceeds via a simple but interesting transition metal-free relay race mechanism.
