Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of Trifluoromethylated γ-Amino Acids through the Umpolung Addition of Trifluoromethyl Imines to Carboxylic Acid Derivatives.

Novel cinchona alkaloid derived chiral phase-transfer catalysts enabled the highly chemo-, regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselective umpolung addition of trifluoromethyl imines to α,β-unsaturated N-acyl pyrroles. With a catalyst loading ranging from 0.2 to 5.0 mol %, this new catalytic asymmetric transformation provides facile and high-yielding access to highly enantiomerically enriched chiral trifluoromethylated γ-amino acids and γ-lactams.