Asymmetric synthesis of Wieland-Miescher and Hajos-Parrish ketones catalyzed by an amino-acid-derived chiral primary amine.

This paper describes a simple chiral primary amine-catalyzed highly efficient and practical protocol for the synthesis of both Wieland-Miescher ketone and Hajos-Parrish ketone as well as their analogues. The reaction can be conducted in gram scale with 1% mol catalyst loading producing high enantioselectivity (up to 96% ee) and excellent yields (up to 98%). This procedure represents one of the most efficient methods for the synthesis of these versatile chiral building blocks.