Base-Free Synthesis of Furfurylamines from Biomass Furans Using Ru Pincer Complexes

We report the first example of employing homogeneous organometal-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation for selective reductive amination furfurals to furfurylamines. An efficient, chemoselective, and base-free method is described using Ru-MACHO-BH as catalyst iPrOH H donor. The tolerates a range substituents affording moderate excellent yields.