Primary Amine–2-Aminopyrimidine Chiral Organocatalysts for the Enantioselective Conjugate Addition of Branched Aldehydes to Maleimides

Chiral primary amines containing the (R,R)- and (S,S)-trans-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine scaffold and a pyrimidin-2-yl unit are synthesized and used as general organocatalysts for the Michael reaction of α-branched aldehydes to maleimides. The reaction takes place with 10 mol% organocatalyst loading and hexanedioic acid as cocatalyst in aqueous N,N-dimethylformamide at 10 °C affording the corresponding succinimides in good yields and enantioselectivities. DFT calculations support the stereochemical results and the role played by the solvents.

The Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) (projects CTQ2010-20387, and Consolider Ingenio 2010, CSD2007-00006), the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) (projects CTQ2013-43446-P and CTQ2014-51912-REDC), FEDER, the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO 2009/039 and PROMETEOII/2014/017), the Basque Government (GV Grant IT-291-07), the FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission via the ITN ECHONET network (MCITN-2012-316379), and the Universities of Alicante and Basque Country are gratefully acknowledged for financial support.