Synthesis of Rare Earth Catalysts and Their Applications for Enantioselective Synthesis of Heterocyclic β-Amino Alcohols

A new family of chiral lanthanide complexes derived from (R)-binaphthol has been synthesized by a one-pot procedure using only commercially available substrates. These complexes were evaluated for the aminolysis of mesoepoxides and proved to be efficient enantioselective catalysts. The samarium complex coordinated by two (R)-binaphthoxide ligands was the most enantioselective catalyst of this series. beta-Amino alcohols including heterocycles have been isolated with enantiomeric excesses up to 84%.