Hydroamination of alkenes with dinitrogen in a trititanium polyhydride framework

The direct use of abundant and easily accessible molecules such as dinitrogen (N 2 ) and alkenes as feedstocks for the synthesis of alkyl amines 1 is of great interest and importance but remains a challenge 2,3,4 . Typically, N 2 functionalization requires electrophilic carbon sources to facilitate the C‒N bond formation. Here we report hydroamination of nonactivated alkenes with N 2 at a trititanium hydride framework, which can serve as an excellent platform for the activation of both alkenes and N 2 and lead to selective C‒N bond formation between these two substrates, efficiently affording the corresponding alkyl amines upon further hydrogenation and protonation. Computational studies reveal the mechanistic details of N 2 activation and selective C‒N bond formation. This work demonstrates a new strategy for transformation of N 2 and simple hydrocarbons into nitrogen-containing organic compounds mediated by multinuclear hydride frameworks.