Enantioselective Markovnikov Addition of Carbamates to Allylic Alcohols for the Construction of α-Secondary and α-Tertiary Amines

Herein we describe the development of a Pd-catalyzed enantioselective Markovnikov addition of carbamates to allylic alcohols for the construction of alpha-tertiary and alpha-secondary amines. The reaction affords a range of beta-amino alcohols, after reduction of the aldehyde in situ, which contain a variety of functional groups in moderate yields and moderate to good enantioselectivities. These products can be readily oxidized to beta-amino acids, valuable building blocks for the synthesis of biologically active compounds. Mechanistic studies indicate that the C-N bond formation occurs via a syn amino-palladation mechanism, an insight which may guide future reaction development given the limited number of enantioselective syntheses of alpha-tertiary amines.