Remapping the Synthetic Landscape of α-Tertiary Alkylamines via Dual-Functional Catechol
Chen-Yan Cai1, Yuzuru Kanda2, Tian Qin1
1Department of Biochemistry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
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α-Tertiary alkylamines are privileged motifs with a strong propensity to be bioactive, rendering their efficient synthesis fundamentally important across diverse areas of chemistry. Despite recent advances in aliphatic amine preparation, the direct construction of hindered α-tertiary amines remains a long-standing challenge. Here, we report a three-component assembly that exploits the dual role of catechol to enable the modular synthesis of these motifs from readily available, bench-stable reactants. This method exhibits exceptional functional-group tolerance and provides access to a variety of synthetically demanding molecular architectures, including consecutive quaternary centers as well as vicinal aminoether and diamine fragments. This approach, therefore, represents a valuable supplement to the chemist's toolbox for α-tertiary alkylamines, offering streamlined routes to complex targets and significant possibilities in drug discovery.
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