Amines are prominent in natural products, pharmaceutical agents and agrochemicals. Moreover, they are synthetically valuable building blocks for the construction of complex organic molecules and functional materials. However, amines, especially aliphatic and aromatic amines with free N–H bonds, tend to coordinate with transition metals and deactivate the catalyst, posing a tremendous challenge to applying Lewis basic amines in the amination of olefins. Here we present an example of oxidative amination of simple olefins with various Lewis basic amines. The combination of a palladium catalyst, 2,6-dimethyl-1,4-benzoquinone and a phosphorous ligand leads to the efficient synthesis of alkyl and aryl allylamines. A series of allylamines were obtained with good yields and excellent regio- and stereoselectivities. Intramolecular amination to synthesize tetrahydropyrrole and piperidine derivatives was also realized. Mechanistic investigations reveal that the reaction undergoes allylic C(sp³)–H activation and subsequent functionalization.

胺在天然产物、药剂和农用化学品中占有重要地位。此外，它们是构建复杂有机分子和功能材料的具有综合价值的构件。然而，胺类，尤其是具有游离 N-H 键的脂肪族和芳香族胺，往往会与过渡金属配位并使催化剂失活，这对在烯烃胺化中应用路易斯碱性胺提出了巨大挑战。在这里，我们展示了简单烯烃与各种路易斯碱性胺的氧化胺化的例子。钯催化剂、2,6-二甲基-1,4-苯醌和磷配体的组合导致烷基和芳基烯丙胺的有效合成。以良好的收率和优异的区域和立体选择性获得了一系列烯丙胺。还实现了分子内胺化合成四氢吡咯和哌啶衍生物。机理研究表明反应发生烯丙基 C(sp ³ )–H 活化和随后的功能化。