Iron-Catalyzed Aerobic Dehydrogenative Kinetic Resolution of Cyclic Secondary Amines

A nonenzymatic iron-catalyzed dehydrogenative
kinetic resolution
of cyclic secondary amines using air as an oxidant has been reported.
The economical and practical method is applicable to a series of cyclic
benzylic amines, including 5,6-dihydrophenanthridines and 1,2-dihydroquinolines,
with diverse functional groups at the α position in high yields
with excellent enantioselectivities. The direct dehydrogenative kinetic
resolution of advanced intermediates of bioactive molecules that are
difficult to access using existing catalytic asymmetric synthetic
strategy was also demonstrated.