Silver bullet catalyst works magic transforming stable C–H bonds into amines

By combining a silver catalyst with a chiral sulfur reagent, researchers are now able to stereoselectively aminate unactivated C–H bonds, allowing the team to make late-stage modifications to alkanes and drug-like molecules.

‘Previous methods for C–H amination mostly focused on substrates with activated C–H bonds,’ says Tuan Anh Trinh at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, adding that these are often unable to aminate C–H bonds in alkanes, for example. Such techniques also typically require harsh reaction conditions, excess substrate or expensive metals like rhodium.