Development of highly selective organic reactions catalyzed by designed amine organocatalysts

Abstract

A series of chiral amines with conceptually new design have been developed as chiral organocatalysts. These chiral amine organocatalysts have been successfully applied to several asymmetric reactions via iminium and enamine intermediates and exhibited unique reactivity and selectivity in comparison with previous amine organocatalysts derived from naturally occurring amino acids. The synthetic utility of these asymmetric organocatalytic reactions has also been demonstrated in their application to the synthesis of versatile chiral building blocks. © 2010 The Chemical Society of Japan.