Primary Amines by Transfer Hydrogenative Reductive Amination of Ketones by Using Cyclometalated Ir^III Catalysts

Cyclometalated iridium complexes are found to be versatile catalysts for the direct reductive amination (DRA) of carbonyls to give primary amines under transfer‐hydrogenation conditions with ammonium formate as both the nitrogen and hydrogen source. These complexes are easy to synthesise and their ligands can be easily tuned. The activity and chemoselectivity of the catalyst towards primary amines is excellent, with a substrate to catalyst ratio...