Chiral cyclopropenimine-catalyzed enantioselective Michael reactions of phenol and benzofuran-derived α,β-unsaturated pyrazolamides with benzophenone-imine of glycine esters

• Ya Bai,
• Xue-Ying Wang,
• Si-Kai Zhu,
• Yan-Ting Shen,
• Sheng-Yong Zhang and
• Ping-An Wang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 888–896, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.69

• , 710032, China School of Pharmacy, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China 10.3762/bjoc.22.69 Abstract The enantioselective Michael reactions of benzophenone-imine of glycine esters with phenol- and benzofuran-derived α,β-unsaturated pyrazolamides have been realized by using a chiral cyclopropenimine

• adjacent stereocenters, which was obtained from in-situ acidic hydrolysis and lactamization of the corresponding Michael product. Keywords: α,β-unsaturated pyrazolamide; chiral cyclopropenimine; glutamic acid; lactamization; Michael addition; Introduction Phenols and benzofurans are feedstock chemicals

• and pyroglutamic acid esters were also produced by enantioselective Michael additions of β-aryl-substituted α,β-unsaturated pyrazolamides with benzophenone-imine of glycine ester in excellent ee and de values by using a chiral cyclopropenimine (Lambert catalyst, Figure 2b) as an organosuperbase

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