Xm. Fang et al., Catalytic approach for the formation of optically active allyl alpha-aminoacids by addition of allylic metal compounds to alpha-imino esters, J ORG CHEM, 64(13), 1999, pp. 4844-4849
A new catalytic enantioselective approach for the formation of allyl alpha-
amino acid derivatives by reaction of N-tosyl alpha-imino esters with allyl
stannanes and silanes catalyzed by chiral copper(I) complexes has been dev
eloped. A series of different BINAP and phosphine-oxazoline (P,N) ligands h
ave, in combination with various Lewis acids, been tested as chiral catalys
ts for allylation of N-tosyl alpha-imino esters. It has been found that bot
h type of ligands, in combination with copper(I) salts, give highly valuabl
e unsaturated alpha-amino acid derivatives. The reaction has been investiga
ted for different allyl stannanes and silanes, and it has been found that t
ri-n-butyl allyl stannane gives the best results of the simple allyl compou
nds tested, leading to gamma,delta-unsaturated alpha-amino acid derivatives
in up to 94% yield and with up to 83% ee, which can be improved to be >95%
ee by recrystallization. The reaction has also been investigated using dif
ferent acyclic and cyclic allyl stannanes leading to various types of unsat
urated a-amino acid derivatives in very high yield (up to 95%) and with up
to 98% ee. The stereochemistry and absolute configurations of the allyl alp
ha-amino acid derivatives have been determined by X-ray analysis, and it is
suggested that the reaction takes place as an ene-like reaction.