Amino acid-catalyzed direct enantioselective synthesis of β-amino-α-oxyaldehydes

The first direct amino acid-catalyzed asymmetric syntheses of α-oxy-β-aminoaldehydes are presented. The organocatalytic Mannich reactions between unmodified α-oxyaldehydes and anilines proceeded with excellent enantioselectivities. In most cases, the corresponding α-oxy-β-aminoaldehyde adducts were isolated in high yield with excellent chemo- and enantioselectivity. For example, orthogonally protected 3-amino-tetroses and α-amino acid derivatives were isolated in up to >99% ee.