Recent Advances in Catalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of Fluorinated α- and β-Amino Acids

Enantioenriched fluorinated alpha- and beta-amino acids are often encountered in numerous pharmaceuticals and bioactive molecules, and also of great importance as probes in PET and NMR for studying the behavior of enzymes and for incorporation into peptides and drug candidates. Among various synthetic strategies developed, catalytic enantioselective synthesis proves to be one of the most facile and powerful protocols to construct such privileged structures. The past decade has witnessed considerable progress in the catalytic enantioselective construction of chiral fluorinated alpha- and beta-amino acid derivatives with structural diversity. In this review, we summarize these impressive achievements according to the bond-forming way of fluorinated alpha- or beta-amino acids, respectively, and underline the remaining challenges. This information would provide important guidance and some inspiration for the researchers engaged in organic fluorine and medicinal chemistry.