Patent ID: 7250519

Claim:
A method of preparing tertiary amines having formula (I) Ar—(NR1R2) n (I), the method comprising: reacting secondary amines having formula (II) H—NR1R2 (II) with aromatic amines or heteroaromatic amines of the formula (III) (X) n —Ar (III) in the presence of a base, a nickel or palladium compound, and at least one phosphine selected from the group consisting of: a monomeric halo-phosphine of the general formula Y—PR4R5, an oligomeric halo-phosphine of the general formula Y—PR4R5, a polymeric halo-phosphine of the general formula Y—PR4R5, a dihalo-phosphine of the general formula (Y) 2 PR4, an alkoxy-phosphine of the general formula R3O—PR4R5, an aryloxy-phosphine of the general formula R3O—PR4R5, a dialkoxy-phosphine of the general formula (R3O) 2 —PR4, a diaryloxy-phosphine of the general formula (R3O) 2 —PR4, and mixtures thereof in an inert solvent; wherein the residues and indices have the following meaning: Ar are all: aromatic groups with 6 to 40 carbon atoms or heteroaromatic groups with 2 to 40 carbon atoms, either of which can be unsubstituted or substituted by at least one linear, branched, or cyclic alkyl- or alkoxy residues having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, wherein one or more non-vicinal CH 2 -groups of the alkyl- or alkoxy residues can be replaced by O, S, C═O, or a carboxy group; or by unsubstituted aryl- or hetero-aryl residue having 4 to 20 carbon atoms, fluorine or cyano- or nitro-groups; R1 and R2 are individually the same or different and are: a linear or branched mono-, bi-, tri-, or poly-cyclic aliphatic having 1 to 20 carbon atoms where the nitrogen can form a part of the ring system and where again one or more non-vicinal CH 2 -groups can be substituted by NR4, O, S, C═O, or a carboxy-group, and aromatics with 6 to 40 carbon atoms or heteroaromatics with 2 to 40 carbon atoms, either of which can be unsubstituted or substituted by one or more linear, branched, or cyclic alkyl- or alkoxy residues having 1 to 20 carbon atoms where again one or more non-vicinal CH 2 -groups can be replaced by O, S, C═O, or a carboxy group; or by unsubstituted aryl- or hetero-aryl residues having 4 to 20 carbon atoms, fluorine or cyano- or nitro-groups; R3 is: a linear or branched alkyl residue having 1 to 12 carbon atoms or an aryl residue having 6 to 12 carbon atoms; R4 and R5 are individually the same or different and are: a linear, branched or mono-, di- or tricyclic alkyl-residue having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, where again one or more non-vicinal CH 2 -groups can be substituted by O, or an aryl or heteroaryl-residue having 4 to 12 carbon atoms which can be substituted by one or more linear, branched or cyclic alkyl- or alkoxy residues having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, where again one or more non-vicinal CH 2 -groups can be substituted by O, S, C═O, or a carboxy group; X is a suitable reactive leaving group, Y is fluorine, chlorine or iodine, and n is a whole number between 1 and 10.