Novel and practical asymmetric synthesis of β2,3-amino esters using asymmetric Michael addition of chiral amine

A practical method for the synthesis of chiral beta(2,3)-amino esters having various substituents was developed, which is characterized by an asymmetric Michael addition reaction of a chiral lithium amide with trisubstituted (E)-alpha,beta-unsaturated esters. We found that a highly face-selective protonation occurred by the quick addition of water to the enolate intermediate derived from the Michael addition reaction to afford N-protected beta(2,3)-amino esters in moderate to excellent yields. This finding was made possible by the facile preparation of geometrically pure trisubstituted (E)-alpha,beta-unsaturated esters, which was established recently by our group. The subsequent deprotection of the amino group in the Michael adduct by using N-iodosuccinimide (NIS) efficiently provided beta(2,3)-amino esters having various substituents. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.