Highly chemoselective Pd-C catalytic hydrodechlorination leading to the highly efficient N-debenzylation of benzylamines.

In the presence of 1,1,2-trichloroethane, a novel procedure for the Pd-C catalytic N-debenzylation of benzylamines was established. The method proceeded in a synergistic catalytic system and directly gave the products as crystal amine hydrochlorides in practically quantitative yields.