Accelerating Amine-Catalyzed Asymmetric Reactions by Intermolecular Cooperative Thiourea/Oxime Hydrogen-Bond Catalysis

Abstract

The ability of intermolecular cooperative thiourea/oxime hydrogen-bond catalysis for improving and accelerating asymmetric aminocatalysis is presented. The two readily available hydrogen-bond-donating catalysts operates in synergy with a chiral amine catalyst to accomplish highly stereoselective transformations. The synergistic catalyst systems simultaneously activate both electrophiles and nucleophiles, and make the transformations more chemo- and stereoselective. This was exemplified by performing co-catalytic enantioselective direct intermolecular α-alkylation reactions of aldehydes, direct aldol reactions, and asymmetric conjugate reactions, which gave the corresponding products in high yields and enantiomeric ratios.