Catalytic enantioselective Minisci-type addition to heteroarenes

Abstract

Light and acid steer a radical addition So-called Minisci reactions have been used for decades in pharmaceutical and agrochemical synthesis to make carbon-carbon bonds. The reactions link carbon radicals to the carbon centers adjacent to nitrogen in pyridine rings. Proctor et al. devised a method to steer these reactions to just one of two possible mirror-image products. To make the radicals, they prepared derivatives of widely available amino acids and then activated them with an iridium photocatalyst. At the same time, a chiral phosphoric acid catalyst was used to activate the pyridine and bias the reaction geometry. Science , this issue p. 419