A zinc-ProPhenol-catalyzed direct asymmetric aldol reaction between glycine Schiff bases and aldehydes is reported. The design and synthesis of new ProPhenol ligands bearing 2,5-trans-disubstituted pyrrolidines was essential for the success of this process. The transformation operates at room temperature and affords syn β-hydroxy-α-amino esters in high yields with good to excellent levels of di...

An efficient one-pot nitro-Mannich/hydroamination cascade reaction for the synthesis of substituted pyrrolidines bearing three stereocentres is reported. Proceeding under the control of a combination of base and gold(I) catalysts, the cascade reaction affords the pyrrolidine products in high yields with good to excellent diastereoselectivities.

2,2,5-Trisubstituted pyrrolidines are available from allylic pyroglutamates by Ireland-Claisen ester rearrangement followed by Eschenmoser sulfide contraction and reduction in a highly diastereoselective and efficient sequence. Some of the products from this sequence exhibit activity against S. aureus, but are much less active against E. coli.

Pin the amine on the gamma: A new method has been developed for the γ-addition of nitrogen nucleophiles to γ-substituted alkynoates or allenoates through intra- and intermolecular processes that are catalyzed by spirophosphine 1. An asymmetric version of this reaction affords enantioenriched pyrrolidines, indolines, and γ-amino-α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds.

Palladium(II)-catalyzed aerobic oxidative cyclization of alkenes with tethered tert-butanesulfinamides furnishes enantiopure 2,5-disubstituted pyrrolidines, originating from readily available and easily diversified starting materials. These reactions are the first reported examples of metal-catalyzed addition of sulfinamide nucleophiles to alkenes.

This review highlights the biological importance of many polysubstituted nitro-prolines and -pyrrolidines. Their preparation using asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of azomethine ylides with nitroalkenes using diastereoselective and enantioselective strategies is described remarking the scope and main features of each one.

A C-N bond forming dearomatization protocol with broad scope is outlined. Specifically, bifunctional amino reagents are used for sequential nucleophilic and electrophilic C-N bond formations, with the latter effecting the key dearomatization step. Using this approach, γ-arylated alcohols are converted to a wide range of differentially protected spirocyclic pyrrolidines in just two or three steps.

We herein describe a palladium-catalyzed formal aromaticity transfer coupling reaction between phenols and pyrrolidines or indolines to generate the corresponding N-cyclohexyl pyrroles or indoles. In this transformation, the aromaticity of phenols is formally passed on to the pyrrolidine or indoline units. Substituted phenols thus can serve as latent cyclohexyl equivalents for the fast construc...