Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.133, No.33, 12914-12917, 2011
Organocatalytic Asymmetric Biomimetic Transamination: From alpha-Keto Esters to Optically Active alpha-Amino Acid Derivatives
This paper describes an effective chiral base-catalyzed biomimetic transamination of a-keto esters using simple benzyl amines. A wide variety of a.-amino esters containing various functional groups can be synthesized in high enantioselectivity and reasonable yield.