A directed enolization strategy enables by-product-free construction of contiguous stereocentres en route to complex amino acids.

Hong, Fenglin, Aldhous, Timothy P ORCID: 0000-0003-2031-7454, Kemmitt, Paul D ORCID: 0000-0002-5374-6557 and Bower, John F ORCID: 0000-0002-7551-8221 (2024) A directed enolization strategy enables by-product-free construction of contiguous stereocentres en route to complex amino acids. Nature chemistry. pp. 1-8.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41557-024-01473-5

Abstract

Homochiral α-amino acids are widely used in pharmaceutical design as key subunits in chiral catalyst synthesis or as building blocks in synthetic biology. Many synthetic methods have been developed to access rare or unnatural variants by controlling the installation of the α-stereocentre. By contrast, and despite their importance, α-amino acids possessing β-stereocentres are much harder to synthesize. Here we demonstrate an iridium-catalysed protocol that allows the direct upconversion of simple alkenes and glycine derivatives to give β-substituted α-amino acids with exceptional levels of regio- and stereocontrol. Our method exploits the native directing ability of a glycine-derived N-H unit to facilitate Ir-catalysed enolization of the adjacent carbonyl. The resulting stereodefined enolate cross-couples with a styrene or α-olefin to install two contiguous stereocentres. The process offers very high levels of regio- and stereocontrol and occurs with complete atom economy. In broader terms, our reaction design offers a unique directing-group-controlled strategy for the direct stereocontrolled α-alkylation of carbonyl compounds, and provides a powerful approach for the synthesis of challenging contiguous stereocentres.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Physical Sciences
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	19 Feb 2024 16:09
Last Modified:	10 Apr 2024 12:45
DOI:	10.1038/s41557-024-01473-5
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3178779