Dialkyl amides of L-valine, L-isoleucine, and L-tert-leucine (2) are excellent chiral auxiliaries for the construction of quaternary stereocenters at ambient temperature. Enaminoesters 3, prepared from these auxiliaries 2 and Michael donors 1, undergo a copper-catalyzed asymmetricMichaelreaction with methyl vinyl ketone (MVK, 4) to afford products 5 in 70-90% yield and 90-99% ee (enantiomeric excess)