Tertiary Amine Synthesis by Radical Carbonyl Alkylative Amination

Highly efficient access to structurally diverse branched tertiary amines is a long-standing challenge in synthetic chemistry. In a recent paper published in Nature, Gaunt and co-workers disclose a practical strategy for the construction of synthetically intractable tertiary amines through visible-light-mediated radical carbonyl alkylative amination of aldehydes, amines, and alkyl halides.