Intramolecular enantioselective hydroamination catalyzed by rare earth binaphthylamides

Asymmetric intramolecular hydroamination reaction is a stately way to prepare chiral nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds. We report in this account our personal contribution in this field with the synthesis of chiral amido rare-earth complexes. A new family of structurally defined heterobimetallic rare earth lithium ate complexes based on N-substituted binaphthylamido ligands was discovered that promoted the hydroamination/cyclization of aminoolefins with up to 87% ee. Neutral rare earth amido and amido alkyl complexes could also be prepared and led to very active species. A more simple and reliable synthetic procedure was discovered towards the preparation of heterobimetallic rare earth amido alkyl ate complexes. They proved to be also active and enantioselective catalysts, as a good compromise between efficiency and practicability issues. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.