Reduction of azides

Recent Literature

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) (400) has been found to be a superior solvent over ionic liquids by severalfold in promoting the hydrogenation of various functional groups using Adams' catalyst. Both the catalyst and PEG were recycled efficiently over 10 runs without loss of activity, and without substrate cross contamination.
S. Chandrasekhar, S. Y. Prakash, C. L. Rao, J. Org. Chem., 2006, 71, 2196-2199.

Organic azides are easily and chemoselectively reduced to the corresponding amines by reaction with dichloroindium hydride under very mild conditions. γ-Azidonitriles give pyrrolidin-2-imines in an outstanding cyclization.
L. Benati, G. Bencivenni, R. Leardini, D. Nanni, M. Minozzi, P. Spagnolo, R. Scialpi, G. Zanardi, Org. Lett., 2006, 8, 2499-2502.

A novel enantioselective synthesis of α-amino acids has been developed, which is broad in scope, simple in application, and advantageous for many α-amino acids of interest in chemistry, biology, medicine.
E. J. Corey, J. O. Link, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1992, 114, 1906-1908.