The synthesis of highly branched long chain amines in one step is still a challenge. The palladium catalysed telomerisation of the renewable sesquiterpene b-farnesene with secondary amines yields such tertiary amines and thus, was investigated within this work. Preliminary, a suitable palladium catalyst system was developed by a high-throughput screening. It efficiently allows for the synthesis of tertiary amines with a highly branched C 30 -carbon chain with yields up to 94% of the corresponding desired allylic C 30 -amines. The generality of the protocol was proven for thirteen amines with linear and branched alkyl and aryl groups. A clear correlation between the scaffold of the amine, basicity and the activity as nucleophile in the telomerisation was uncovered. Based on the different polarities of the nonpolar in-situ formed C 30 -substituted tertiary amines and the polar solvent, a proof of concept for catalyst recovery by simple decantation was shown.

The title compound, C14H12O3, was synthesized via the nucleophilic addition of 4-meth­oxy­phenol to 4-fluoro­benzaldehyde. The dihedral angle between the least-squares planes of the benzene rings is 71.52 (3)° and the C—O—C angle at the central O atom is 118.82 (8)°. In the crystal, weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the molecules to generate supra­molecular layers in the bc plane. The layers are linked by weak C—H⋯π inter­actions.