A convenient rhodium-catalyzed intermolecular hydroamination procedure for terminal alkynes

The first rhodium-catalyzed intermolecular hydroamination of alkynes is presented. Terminal alkynes react efficiently with anilines in the presence of cationic rhodium(I) catalysts under very mild reaction conditions (e.g., base and acid free at room temperature) to yield up to 99% of the corresponding imines. An easy one-pot protocol for the synthesis of secondary amines was developed by combining this alkyne amination reaction with in situ addition of organolithium reagents.