Enantioenriched α-substituted glutamates/pyroglutamates via enantioselective cyclopropenimine-catalyzed Michael addition of amino ester imines

• Zara M. Seibel,
• Jeffrey S. Bandar and
• Tristan H. Lambert

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2077–2084, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.134

• of α-substituted glutamates and pyroglutamates via a cyclopropenimine-catalyzed Michael addition of amino ester imines is described. Enantioselectivities of up to 94% have been achieved, and a variety of functional groups were found to be compatible. The impact of the catalyst structure and imine

• substitution is discussed. Compared to other methods, this protocol allows for a broader and more enantioselective access to pyroglutamate derivatives. Keywords: Brønsted base; cyclopropenimine; enantioselective catalysis; Michael addition; pyroglutamate; Introduction α-Substituted glutamates have value as

• strategy for the enanantioselective conjugate addition of amino acid derivatives for this reaction remains an unmet goal. Our group previously described a chiral cyclopropenimine catalyst that displayed outstanding reactivity for addition reactions of glycine imines [40][41]. We hypothesized that this