A new general approach for the synthesis of optically active α-amino acids has been developed. The key steps involve a ruthenium catalysed cross-coupling reaction to give a range of α, β-unsaturated ketones, which were then reduced to allylic secondary alcohols in the presence of a chiral CBS oxazaborolidine. A thermal Overman rearrangement was used to prepare a series of allylic trichloroacetimidates and these were converted under ...
