Enantioselective organocatalytic synthesis of medicinally privileged 2-amino-4H-chromene-3-carbonitriles via a cascade process

An efficient organocatalytic cascade approach toward medicinally privileged 2-amino-4H-chromene-3-carbonitriles is reported. The enantioselective synthesis of these compounds is achieved in high yields and good to high ee values (up to 96% yield and 89% ee) using bifunctional amine-thiourea organocatalysts developed in our laboratory. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.