Palladacycle-Phosphine Catalyzed Methylation of Amines and Ketones Using Methanol.

Methylation of amines and ketones with palladacycle precatalyst has been performed using methanol as an environmentally benign reagent. Various ketones and amines undergo methylation reaction to yield monomethylated amines or ketones in moderate to good isolated yields. Moreover, this protocol was tested for the chemoselective methylation of 4-aminobenzenesulfonamide. The scope of the reaction was further extended to the deuteromethylation of ketones.