Simple conversion of fatty nitriles to primary fatty amines through iron(II)-tmphen catalyzed hydrosilylation

Hydrosilylation, a mild and save method, for reduction of fatty nitriles to primary fatty amines has been described. Using catalytic amount of iron(II)-tmphen complex, different long chain of fatty nitriles are reduced in good conversion number. The effect of the reaction times and the silane number toward the conversion was also studied in this work. The analysis by using gas chromatography showed that the the highest fatty nitriles conversion to its primary amines was achieved with nitrile: silane ratio 1:7 at 100 degrees C for 24h under inert gas atmosphere. This commercially available and inexpensive catalyst and silane utilization offer a new method which is accessible for both laboratory and large scale primary fatty amines production.