Facile Synthesis of Primary Amines via Nitrogen Fixation in Charged Microdroplets (opens in new tab)

Primary amines are one of the most versatile synthetic intermediates, but current methods rely on protecting groups in multistep reactions or corrosive reducing agents. Herein, we report an innovative synthetic method for primary amines based on accelerated microdroplet chemistry. The electrospray process allows in-situ ammonia generation from atmospheric nitrogen, reacting with alcohols of various properties (aliphatic and aromatic) to produce the corresponding amine. The alcohol to amine co...