Enantioselective Preparation of Alcohols and Amines

Thomas C. Nugent of Jacobs University Bremen reported J. Org. Chem. 2008, 73, 1297) that added Yb(OAc)j improved the de in the reductive amination of ketones such as 22 with Raney Ni and 23. Yong-Gui Zhou of the Dalian Instimte of Chemical Physics found (Organic Lett. 2008,10, 2071) that cycUc sulfamidates such as 25 were easily prepared from the corresponding hydroxy ketone. Enantioselective hydrogenation of 25 gave 

26 with high ee. Note that the cyclic sulfamidates 26 so produced will be versatile intermediates for further transformations, as the O is easily displaced by nucleophiles. Armido Studer of Westfalische-Withehns-Universitat has been investigating (OHL March 24, 2008) the radical amination of alkenes. He has developed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 779) an easily-prepared N donor, 28, and found that addition to the alkenyl oxazohdinone 

The alkene 30 has ten chemically distinct C-H bonds. Paul Muller of the University of Geneva and Robert H. Dodd and Philippe Dauban of CNRS, Gif-sur-Yvette established (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008,130, 343) that insertion by a Rh nitrene proceeded with high selectivity primarily into just one of those C-H bonds, dehvering 32 in high de. 

---