Alpha,alpha-diarylprolinol ethers: new tools for functionalization of carbonyl compounds

One-pot multicomponent synthesis of highly functionalized piperidines from substituted β-nitrostyrenes, Meldrum's acid, aromatic aldehydes, and ammonium acetate

An efficient and straightforward synthetic protocol has been developed for the diversity-oriented synthesis of highly functionalized piperidines containing a Meldrum's acid moiety via pseudo five-component reaction between aromatic aldehydes, ammonium acetate, substituted β-nitrostyrenes and Meldrum's acid for the generation of a wide range of structurally interesting and pharmacologically significant compounds.

Enantioselective Michael additions of aldehydes to nitroalkenes catalyzed with ionically tagged organocatalyst

Enantioselective organocatalytic Michael additions affords useful building blocks for many biologically and medicinally relevant compounds. Ionically-tagged diphenylprolinol silyl ether efficiently catalyzes several Michael additions of aldehydes to nitroalkenes in ionic liquids. The Michael additions work well in ionic liquids; yields up to 95% and enantioselectivities up to 95% ee were achieved. Furthermore, in some cases, the catalytic system was reusable.

Catalytic asymmetric allylation of carbonyl compounds and imines with allylic boronates

Enantioselective allylation is a highly used organic reaction to prepare chiral homoallylic alcohols and amines, which serve as important building blocks in the synthesis of a variety of natural products and pharmaceuticals.

Bifunctional ferrocene-based squaramide-phosphine as an organocatalyst for highly enantioselective intramolecular Morita–Baylis–Hillman reaction

Ferrocene is an excellent scaffold for organocatalysts. Bifunctional ferrocene-based phosphine (R_C,S_Fc)-1 shows high enantioselectivity in the intramolecular Morita–Baylis–Hillman reaction of 7-aryl-7-oxo-5-heptenals.

Enantioselective synthesis of (thiolan-2-yl)diphenylmethanol and its application in asymmetric, catalytic sulfur ylide-mediated epoxidation

This work describes an expeditious and efficient preparation of enantiopure (thiolan-2-yl)diphenylmethanol (2) featuring a double nucleophilic substitution and Shi epoxidation as key steps. One of the applications of its benzyl ether derivative to asymmetric sulfur ylide-mediated epoxidation with up to 92% ee (14 examples) was also demonstrated herein.

Asymmetric trienamine catalysis: new opportunities in amine catalysis

Amine catalysis, through HOMO-activating enamine and LUMO-activating iminium-ion formation, is receiving increasing attention among other organocatalytic strategies, for the activation of unmodified carbonyl compounds. Particularly, the HOMO-raising activation concept has been applied to the greatest number of asymmetric transformations through enamine, dienamine, and SOMO-activation strategies. Recently, trienamine catalysis, an extension of amine catalysis, has emerged as a powerful tool for synthetic chemists with a novel activation strategy for polyenals/polyenones. In this review article, we discuss the initial developments of trienamine catalysis for highly asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions with different dienophiles and emerging opportunities for other types of cycloadditions and cascade reactions.