N-methylation of amines with methanol at room temperature.

N-Methylation of amines with methanol proceeds at room temperature in the presence of a silver-loaded titanium dioxide (Ag/TiO2) photocatalyst under UV-vis light irradiation. This method allows facile synthesis/isolation of N-methylamines bearing various functional groups including N-benzyl, N-allyl, N-Boc, hydroxyl, ether, acetal, carboxamide, formamide, and olefin groups.

Redox reaction of the Pd0 complex bearing the Trost ligand with meso-cycloalkene-1,4-biscarbonates leading to a diamidato Pd(II) complex and 1,3-cycloalkadienes: enantioselective desymmetrization versus catalyst deactivation.

The Pd(0) complex 1 that bears the Trost ligand 2 undergoes a facile redox reaction with 1,4-biscarbonates 5b-d and rac-22 under formation of the diamidato-Pd(II) complex 7 and the corresponding 1,3-cycloalkadienes 8b-d. The redox deactivation of complex 1 was the dominating pathway in the reaction of 5b-d with HCO(3)(-) at room temperature. However, at 0 degrees C the six-membered biscarbonate 5b, catalytic amounts of complex 1, and HCO(3)(-) mainly reacted in an allylic alkylation, which led to a highly selective desymmetrization of the substrate and gave alcohol 6b with > or = 99% ee in 66% yield.