This report describes a scalable process for the asymmetric synthesis of (R)-2-amino-1-(3- pyridinyl) ethanol dihydrochloride. The stereochemistry of the product is set via a reduction of 3-chloroacetyl pyridine with 2 equiv of borane-dimethyl sulfide and a catalytic amount of an in situ generated oxazaborolidine. The enantiomeric excess (ee) of the reductive step depends on the addition rate of the substrate and the temperature. The authors ...
