Nickel Nanoparticles as Racemization Catalysts for Primary Amines

By combining bases that are known to racemize benzylic amines with a nickel(II) salt, active nickel nanoparticles were obtained that can be used as catalysts in the racemization of both aliphatic and benzylic primary amines. The nanoparticles are stable in the ionic liquid tetrabutylammonium bromide and can complete most racemizations within a few hours with excellent selectivity. The problem of the incompatibility of the strongly reducing racemization catalyst and the enzymatic amine resolution catalyst was overcome by using a two-pot system with a biphasic racemization step. Consecutive contact of a nonane layer that contained the amine with the acylating enzyme and with the racemizing Ni nanoparticles in the ionic liquid allowed the 50% amide yield limit of a kinetic resolution to be successfully surpassed.