Organometal additions to alpha-iminoesters: N-alkylation via umpolung.

Alpha-iminoesters are useful precursors to substituted alpha-amino acid derivatives and are utilized in a number of organic transformations. As a consequence of the adjacent ester functionality, these imines are more reactive relative to other types of imines. While a significant body of work has focused on nucleophilic additions to the imine carbon (C-alkylation), a second pathway that involves nucleophilic reaction at the nitrogen (N-alkylation) is much less explored. This tutorial review highlights work that has exploited this unusual alpha-iminoester reactivity mode.