Organocatalysis is a fast-moving research field. Consequently a lot of highly active researchers are publishing and citing related work.

The paper describes the first use of acyclic amines and primary amines as catalysts for the direct asymmetric enantioselective addition of ketones to nitro-olefins.

It was previously believed that only cyclic five-membered chiral amines, e.g., proline-derivatives, could catalyze the addition of unmodified aldehydes and ketones to nitro-olefins with high enantioselectivity. However, our studies show that acyclic chiral amines and peptide derivatives with primary amine functionality also can catalyze this reaction with high asymmetric induction.

Thus, there is a plethora of natural and unnatural chiral amines that can be used as environmentally benign and non-toxic catalysts for this reaction. Moreover, the study has inspired other researchers to develop more selective and efficient catalysts with a primary amine functionality.

We have been interested in the development of catalytic asymmetric reactions, which are catalyzed by small organic molecules such as amino acids, for nearly six years. In the beginning, we and the rest of the organocatalysis research community mainly used proline and proline derivatives as catalysts for various asymmetric reactions, but more recently we found that also simple linear amino acids and acyclic chiral amines can catalyze carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions with high enantioselectivity. It was therefore quite difficult, in the beginning, to convince the rest of the community that these types of catalysts really worked.

The employment of non-toxic, metal-free, organic catalysts is beneficial for the environment. Organocatalysis is also changing the minds of today’s young chemists towards the development of chemical processes that are environmentally benign and green.