Highly enantio- and diastereoselective mannich reactions of chiral Ni(II) glycinates with amino sulfones. Efficient asymmetric synthesis of aromatic alpha,beta-diamino acids.

This paper describes a practical, enantio- and diastereoselective Mannich reaction between a chiral Ni(II) complex of glycine 1 and alpha-amino sulfones 2, involving the creation of a carbon-carbon bond and two stereogenic centers in a single operation; it represents an attractive route to the synthesis alpha,beta-diamino acids.