TBAT-Catalyzed Deoxygenative Reduction of Tertiary Amides to Amines.

A simple, mild, metal-free catalytic protocol is developed to convert amides to amines. This protocol uses a stable tetrabutylammonium difluorotriphenylsilicate in combination with silanes that generates a highly reactive hydrosilicate species, which enables the reduction of a broad range of amides to amines in moderate to good yields. The attractive features of this protocol include operational simplicity, safety, short reaction times, room temperature reaction, broad substrate scope, and amenable to scale up.