I'm very interested in the leuckart (why? who knows)
Now I know you probably aren't so interested in doing research as getting amine, but here is a precious, lovely thread. Read it. Admire it. Love it.
Post 302161 (missing)
(Antoncho: "Leuckart with 92%+ overall yield", Methods Discourse)Second, I here must shamelessly plug my own thread -- a great idea of Tengo's that turned out to be much less wild than originally seemed.
Post 497428
(ning: "Oxalic acid leuckart reaction", Novel Discourse)Now, this is the formaldehyde version of the leuckart. It's much easier than the normal one. However, it's a very likely thing that if it works for one, it will work for the other.
The leuckart is supposed to work best when the temperature is ramped up slowly and the reaction run for a while.
I recommend performing hydrolysis in-situ, as it will raise yields. Not all the reduced amine forms an N-formyl derivative, and if you isolate the N-formyl derivative, you throw that amine away.
So, read rhodium's page, search the hive a bit, and read those two links. Best of luck to you.
And *nudge nudge* if you do
happen to have some extra ketone to play with, well, ning would be very interested to know how well ammonium oxalate amines ketones....suggested molar ratio ketone 1, ammonia 2, oxalic acid dihydrate 6, for starters.
Peace Bee.