Prolinate Salt as a Catalyst in the syn-Selective, Asymmetric Mannich Reaction of Alkynyl Imine

Prolinate salt is an efficient catalyst in the Mannich reaction of alkynyl imine and aldehyde, to afford synthetically useful chiral propargyl amine derivatives with excellent syn-selectivity and nearly perfect control of the absolute configuration. The counterion of the prolinate salt does not affect the enantioselectivity. This is a rare example, in which proline alkali metals, alkaline-earth metals, or ammonium salt show higher reactivity and better stereoselectivity than the parent proline.