An efficient and convenient palladium catalyst system for the synthesis of amines from allylic alcohols.

A novel catalyst system for efficient amination of allylic alcohols with aryl and alkyl amines is presented. By applying a convenient combination consisting of Pd(OAc)(2)/1,10-phenanthroline, a variety of allylic alcohols reacted smoothly to give the corresponding secondary and tertiary amines in good to excellent yields with high regioselectivity. The usefulness of our protocol is demonstrated in the one-step synthesis of the antifungal drug naftifine and the calcium channel blocker flunarizine.