New Catalytic Method Discovered by Schaus and CMLD-BU featured in C&E News
From Chemical & Engineering News (Vol 83, p. 13):
The asymmetric construction of monastrol and other dihydropyrimidones has been a challenge for some time. The compounds are generally produced as racemates by the Biginelli reaction, developed in 1893, and single enantiomers are obtained by chiral resolution.
Assistant professor of chemistry Scott E. Schaus and coworkers at Boston University’s Center for Chemical Methodology & Library Development have now devised the first highly asymmetric synthesis of Biginelli reaction products (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 11256). The addition reaction provides a direct catalytic route to highly enantiopure chiral dihydropyrimidones.
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