Alkyl amines are found in a wide array of bioactive compounds, making strategies for their synthesis very important. Now, a method has been developed to synthesize tertiary alkyl amines via photoinduced, copper-catalysed nucleophilic substitution of unactivated alkyl halides by secondary alkyl amines, with key copper intermediates elucidated in a detailed mechanistic study.
- Hyungdo Cho
- Xiaoyu Tong
- Gregory C. Fu