An expedient enantioselective route to diaminotetralins: application in the preparation of analgesic compounds.

Advances to the rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric ring-opening protocol have allowed this methodology to be extended to azabicyclic alkenes, the first time that rhodium has been used in allylic functionalizations with nitrogen leaving groups. The product diaminotetralins are important medicinal compounds. The synthetic utility of this methodology has been demonstrated in the total synthesis of an analgesic compound where the tetralin core, the regiochemistry, and the relative and absolute stereochemistry are all established in the ring-opening step. [reaction: see text]