Water-compatible iminium activation: highly enantioselective organocatalytic Michael addition of malonates to α,β-unsaturated enones.

The highly enantioselective Michael addition of malonates to α,β-unsaturated ketones in water was reported to be catalyzed by a primary-secondary diamine catalyst containing a long alkyl chain. This asymmetric Michael addition process was found to be effective for a variety of α,β-unsaturated ketones.