Lithium borohydride: a reagent of choice for the selective reductive amination of cyclohexanones

Traditional reductive amination of substituted cyclohexanones are either selective toward the formation of cis-products or show low selectivity. Herein we report a selective procedure for the reductive amination of substituted cyclohexanones with primary amines using lithium borohydride that is selective toward formation of trans-products.