Project Summary:
The general aim of the project is to develop synthetic methods of broad utility and
function that will ultimately provide new chemical tools for the diverse range of synthetic
chemists and biomedical researchers that utilize chiral amines and chiral N-
heterocycles. The main objective is to invent new catalytic asymmetric amination
methods that allow enantioselective access to chiral allyl amines and a-amino carbonyls.
As a consequence, this core research will prove valuable to a number of wide-ranging
industrial areas. During the project period, the PIs plan to demonstrate the value of this
new chemical strategy in the context of first examples of catalytic enantioselective
aminations and their application to access valuable chiral molecules.
Individual goals of the proposed research include: (i) Developing a novel
approach for the synthesis of chiral allyl amines, (ii) Synthesis of important chiral N-aryl
ß-alkyl Aza Baylis-Hillman (ABH) adducts which were not yet reported because of
substrate scope limitation of classical ABH reactions; (ii) As metal-nitroso intermediates
are moderately thermally stable, it will be possible to elaborate the mechanisms of
asymmetric allylic amination, to learn the best ways to design and synthesize practical
efficient catalysts; thus, shedding light on the mechanism of these asymmetric
nitrogenation reactions; (iii) Total synthesis of a hydroxymethyl docetaxel fragment, (iv)
Asymmetric synthesis of ß-aminoacids and ß-lactams, (v) Synthesis of the cholesterol
absorption inhibitor Ezetimibe, (vi) Antiepileptic drug Vigabatrin, (vii) Asymmetric a C-H
amination of carbonyl compounds, and (viii) Asymmetric a C-H amination of oxindoles.
These new strategies provide a practical solution to access novel synthetic targets and
should allow for future advances in the fields of asymmetric amination and group transfer
reactions.