Rhodium-Catalyzed Hydrogenation ofβ-Phthalimide Acrylates

Significance

Chiral β²-amino acids are found in many natural products and are important intermediates in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals. There are many reports for the enantioselective synthesis of these compounds, but straightforward hydrogenation remains one of the simplest and most efficient routes. Rhodium or ruthenium catalysis in the straightforward hydrogenation of these substrates typically gives poor to moderate enantio­selectivity. The authors describe the conditions and procedure for the efficient and simplest route to chiral β²-amino acids and apply their procedure to the synthesis of an amino acid demonstrating the utility of their system.