well SWIAs experience was that yields of phenyl-2-nitropropene CTH with Pd/C and ammonium formate were rather low, compared to borohydride reduction (to the nitropropane) followed by CTH, but he told me he'll keep on experimenting w/direct reduction of nitropropene...
here are writeups of SWIAs tries, with
more success (using borohydride):
Post 497521
(armageddon: "back to the subject ;^)", Novel Discourse)and (almost) no success, direct CTH on styrene was attempted
Post 493102
(armageddon: "Pd/C without pressure works!", Methods Discourse)My organic textbook tells me that phenyl-2-aminopropane is obtained in good yield via catalytic hydrogenation of phenylacetone and ammonia over a raney-nickel catalyst under pressure...
..but since pressure isn't what we really want, perhaps the "urushibara-style amphetamine" writeup on rhodiums page is the key? Something that has to be tested...
Greetz A