Abstract
An easy approach involving sodium borohydride/silica gel system offers a fast method of reduction for N,N′‐bis[5‐substituted salicylidene] m/p‐phenylenediamines to the corresponding amines with excellent yield. The observed formation of boron chelates in the borohydride reduction of some related Schiff bases has been avoided in this method.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank DST, New Delhi for assistance under the IRHPA program for the sNMR facility. One of the authors (V.S.) thanks CSIR, New Delhi for a Senior Research Fellowship.