Copper(II)‐Catalyzed Highly Enantioselective Addition of Enamides to Imines: The Use of Enamides as Nucleophiles in Asymmetric Catalysis

High-yielding efficient routes to optically active amino acid and 1,3-diamine derivatives have been achieved by the catalytic enantioselective addition of enamides to imines using a chiral copper catalyst (see scheme). This reaction demonstrates the utility of enamides as nucleophiles. The reaction mechanism and the structure of the chiral catalyst are also discussed.