Reductive amination of 3-hydroxypropanal with methylamine over Zn/molecular sieves, or maybe with NaBH4 - works 100% sure (Al/Hg could be capable of doing the trick as well, and several other dissolving metal reductions probably too...)
The required 3-OH-propanal aldehyde can be made by partial oxidation of 1,3-propanediol with 0.5x needed molar amount of Jones Reagent for example, maybe sodium persulfate works too.
Maybe I'm totally wrong or maybe IndolAmine just wanted to check if I'm using my brain while reading ?
For the preparation of 2-(N-methyl)propan-1-ol-amine 1,2-Propandiol is required, I think. The secondary OH-group should be easier to oxidize, right ? Any further help is really appreciated ! For example advices how to get this working. If you like, pm me.
Wouldnt the reductive amination of 3-hydroxypropanal give rise to 3-hydroxy-N-methyl-propylamine, while the reaction requires N-methyl-1-hydroxy-2-propylamine? Or did I misread?
In any case, the simplest source of 1-hydroxy-2-propylamine would surely be via reduction of alanine? I'm not sure exactly what reducing agent would be suitable off the top of my head, but there should be some suitable and readily available