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Updated: Feb 12, 2026

Enzymatic Cascade Reactions for the Synthesis of Chiral Amino Alcohols from L-lysine
Published on: February 16, 2018
A practical and scalable system for heteroaryl amino acid synthesis
R A Aycock1, D B Vogt1, N T Jui1
1Department of Chemistry and Winship Cancer Institute , Emory University , Atlanta , GA 30322 , USA .
Abstract:
A robust system for the preparation of β-heteroaryl α-amino acid derivatives has been developed using photoredox catalysis. This system operates via regiospecific activation of halogenated pyridines (or other heterocycles) and conjugate addition to dehydroalanine derivatives to deliver a wide range of unnatural amino acids. This process was conducted with good efficiency on large scale, the application of these conditions to amino ketone synthesis is shown, and a simple protocol is given for the preparation of enantioenriched amino acid synthesis, from a number of radical precursors.
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