Acyclic amino acid-catalyzed direct asymmetric aldol reactions: alanine, the simplest stereoselective organocatalyst

Abstract
The linear amino acid-catalyzed direct asymmetric intermolecular aldol reaction is presented; simple amino acids such as alanine, valine, isoleucine, aspartate, alanine tetrazole 3 and serine catalyzed the direct catalytic asymmetric intermolecular aldol reactions between unmodified ketones and aldehydes with excellent stereocontrol and furnished the corresponding aldol products in up to 98% yield and with up to > 99% ee.
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