Reductive amination of aldehydes and ketones is a versatile method for attaching alkyl groups to amines, but the alkyl group is restricted to a 1 ⁰or 2⁰carbon by this method. Prof. Phil Baran of Scripps Research Institute has reported (Science, 2015, 348(6237), 886-891) a novel way to reduce an aromatic nitro group and add the resulting amine to an alkene so that the aromatic amine is bonded to a carbon- all in a continuous sequence of reactions. For example:

Predict the products using these starting materials, all of which are reported in this paper.

The aromatic nitro group gets reduced to amino group in the presence of iron(III) catalyst and phenylsilane, ethanol. It is a novel way to reduce an aromatic nitro group and add the resulting amine to an alkene so that the aromatic amine is bonded to a carbon- all in a continuous sequence of reactions. The new bond forms which is attached to the ring containing alkene group.

Product formation using iron(III) catalyst, phenylsilane and ethanol

The aromatic nitro group gets reduced to amino group in the presence of iron(III) catalyst and phenylsilane, ethanol. It is a novel way to reduce an aromatic nitro group and add the resulting amine to an alkene so that the aromatic amine is bonded to a carbon- all in a continuous sequence of reactions. The new bond forms which is attached to the ring containing alkene group

Product formation using iron(III) catalyst, phenylsilane and ethanol

The aromatic nitro group gets reduced to amino group in the presence of iron(III) catalyst and phenylsilane, ethanol. It is a novel way to reduce an aromatic nitro group and add the resulting amine to an alkene so that the aromatic amine is bonded to a 3 ⁰carbon- all in a continuous sequence of reactions. The new bond forms which is attached to the ring containing alkene group.

Product formation using iron(III) catalyst, phenylsilane and ethanol