Highly Enantioselective Decarboxylative Protonation of α-Aminomalonates Mediated by Thiourea <i>Cinchona</i> Alkaloid Derivatives: Access to Both Enantiomers of Cyclic and Acyclic α-Aminoacids
Thiourea derived cinchona alkaloids promote the asymmetric decarboxylative protonation of cyclic, acyclic, or bicyclic alpha-aminomalonate hemiesters under mild and metal-free conditions to afford enantioenriched aminoesters in high yields and enantioselectivities up to 93%. Both enantiomers of the aminoesters have been synthesized with the same selectivity when using organic base 3 and its pseudoenantiomer
Enantioenriched pipecolic esters were prepared in good yields in the decarboxylation, at room temperature, of N-protected piperidinohemimalonates catalyzed by cinchona alkaloids. Enantiomeric excesses as high as 72% were obtained when using 9-epi-cinchonine and the N-benzoyl substituted piperidinohemimalonate. A detailed study of the different reaction parameters revealed that the selectivity of this