A selective reductive amination of aldehydes by the use of Hantzsch dihydropyridines as reductant

Direct reductive amination of an aldehyde was carried out using a Hantzsch dihydropyridine as the reductant in the presence of a catalytic amount of scandium triflate. The reaction was highly selective towards aldehydes over ketones, and other reducible functional groups did not affect the reaction.