Direct Aldol Reaction with Glycine Schiff Bases

LLB, LiOH, and H2O promoted the direct aldol reaction of glycinate Schiff bases 12 with aldehydes 3, providing access to p-hydroxy-a-amino acid esters 13 (Scheme 4,bottom) [7],... 

Maruoka and coworkers recently developed an efficient, highly diastereo- and enantioselective direct aldol reaction of glycine Schiff base 2 with a wide range of aliphatic aldehydes under mild phase-transfer conditions employing N-spiro chiral quaternary ammonium salt li as a key catalyst, as shown in Table 5.12 [41a]. 

Quaternary Ammonium Salt-Mediated Asymmetric Direct Aldol Reaction of Glycinate Benzophenone Schiff Base with 3-Phenylpropanal Under Phase-Transfer Conditions [6] (p. 145)... 

The combinational use of inorganic base and chiral phase-transfer catalyst provides an efficient process for the synthesis of -hydroxyl-a-amino acids via the aldol reaction (260-262). A representative and successful example was reported by Maruoka and co-workers (319) that a highly efficient direct asymmetric aldol reaction of a glycinate Schiff base with aliphatic aldehydes has been achieved under mild organic/aqueous biphasic conditions with excellent stereochemical control activity (Scheme 67) (96 99% ee). 

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