Facile Reductive Amination of Aldehydes with Electron-Deficient Anilines by Acyloxyborohydrides in TFA: Application to a Diazaindoline Scale-Up

A scale-up of diazaindoline 1 was achieved in four stages and 32% overall yield. The key step involved rapid reductive amination of aldehyde 8 with aniline 5 by sodium triacetoxyborohydride (STAB-H) and TFA followed by ring closure of intermediate amine 9 to compound 1 in the same pot. These reaction conditions were also applied to facile reductive aminations with anilines known to have little reactivity under STAB-H/AcOH conditions. Spectral data supported the tris(trifluoroacetoxy)borohydride anion (16) as the active reducing agent.