Aiqiao Mi

TL;DR: A theoretical study of transition structures demonstrates the important role of the terminal hydroxyl group in the catalyst in the stereodiscrimination and suggests a new strategy in the design of new organic catalysts for direct asymmetric aldol reactions and related transformations because plentiful chiral resources containing multi-hydrogen bond donors, for example, peptides, might be adopted in the designs.

TL;DR: In this paper, L-proline amides derived from various chiral beta-amino alcohols that bear substituents with various electron natures at their stereogenic centers are prepared and evaluated for catalyzing the direct Aldol reaction of 4-nitrobenzaldehyde with acetone.

TL;DR: A new strategy in the design of new organic catalysts for direct asymmetric aldol reactions and related transformations is suggested as the calculations reveal that the amide N-H and the terminal hydroxyl groups form hydrogen bonds with the benzaldehyde substrate that cause high enantioselectivity.

TL;DR: The catalyst (R,S)-1c is developed for the oxidative coupling of 2-naphthol with high enantioselectivity, and it is found that the chiral centers on the amino acid part and the axially chiral binaphthyl unit are both crucial to stereocontrol by the catalyst.