C-N Bond Formation Using Paraformaldehyde as C1 Source - Recent Advances

Recently, polyformaldehyde (PFA) has been used as C1 source to synthesize a series of value-added compounds due to its low price, stability, low level of toxicity and easy operation. Exploiting paraformaldehyde as C1 source, rather than using traditional methylation reagent to develop benign N-methylation reactions, can be more environment-friendly and make the chemical industry more sustainable. In this paper, the chemical transformation of polyformaldehyde and a new strategy of methylating polyformaldehyde with amine compound to methylamine compound are reviewed. These methods will provide a reference for researchers to synthesize a large number of methylamine compounds in a short reaction by using paraformaldehyde as a single carbon source.