A mild and general method for the synthesis of 5-substituted and 5,5-disubstituted fulleroprolines.

The reductive ring-opening of fullerenyldihydropyrrole yields ethyl N-benzhydryl fullerenyl[60]glycinate, which is deprotected to give ethyl fullerenylglycinate. The free amine is able to react with a variety of aldehydes and ketones in a Mannich-type process to produce 5-substituted and 5,5-disubstituted fulleroprolines and represents a versatile and general strategy to this class of compounds.

Direct organocatalytic asymmetric aldol reactions of alpha-amino aldehydes: expedient syntheses of highly enantiomerically enriched anti-beta-hydroxy-alpha-amino acids.

[reaction: see text] A simple and efficient method for the synthesis of highly enantiomerically enriched beta-hydroxy-alpha-amino acid derivatives has been developed. Direct asymmetric aldol reactions of a glycine aldehyde (aminoacetaldehyde) derivative have been performed under organocatalysis using l-proline or (S)-5-pyrrolidine-2-yl-1H-tetrazole. The reactions afforded anti-beta-hydroxy-alpha-amino aldehydes in good yield with high diastereoselectivity (dr up to >100:1) and high enantioselectivity (up to >99.

Direct asymmetric organocatalytic Michael reactions of alpha,alpha-disubstituted aldehydes with beta-nitrostyrenes for the synthesis of quaternary carbon-containing products.

[reaction: see text] Direct asymmetric catalytic Michael reactions have been performed using chiral-amine/acid bifunctional catalysts. Performed with 0.3 equiv of (S)-(+)-1-(2-pyrrolidinylmethyl)pyrrolidine and 0.

The direct organocatalytic asymmetric mannich reaction: unmodified aldehydes as nucleophiles.

The unprecedented application of unmodified aldehydes as nucleophilic donors in direct catalytic asymmetric Mannich-type reactions is disclosed in a full account. Our efforts in broadening the applicability of chiral pyrrolidine-based catalysts in direct asymmetric Mannich-type reactions led to the highly diastereo- and enantioselective and concise synthesis of functionalized alpha- and beta-amino acids, beta-lactams, and amino alcohols.

Fluorescent detection of carbon-carbon bond formation.

We have developed a new spectroscopic system for detecting carbon-carbon bond formation by fluorescence to enhance high-throughput catalyst screening and rapid characterization of catalysts on a small scale. Fluorogenic substrates composed of a fluorophore possessing an amino group are readily prepared as amides of alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and generally exhibit low fluorescence, while Michael or Diels-Alder reactions of these fluorogenic substrates provide products of significantly increased fluorescence. The product's fluorescence is approximately 20- to 100-fold higher than that of the substrate.