| Abstract
| - Nineteen chiral amines and their derivatives were preparedand investigated as organocatalytic Lewis bases in theα-amination of ethyl α-phenyl-α-cyanoacetate. For comparison purposes, a few natural products were also examinedas catalysts in this study. Among the results obtained, (R)-N-benzyl-N-(1-phenylethyl)-amine and (R,R)-N,N‘-bis(1-phenylethyl)-propane-1,3-diamine as the catalysts afforded theamination products in excellent yields and with up to 84%ee. By contrast, under comparable conditions the twoderivatives of natural products (DHQ)2PYR and (DHQD)2PYRprovided the product of amination with lower than 10%enantiomeric excess.
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