Bioinspired Deamination of α-Amino Acid Derivatives Catalyzed by a Palladium/Nickel Complex

An efficient bioinspired deamination method of both natural and unnatural amino acid derivatives has been developed. This method provides easy access to a wide variety of useful alpha, beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. The reaction is realized with two transition metal catalysts (palladium and Nickel) in-easy handling procedure. A possible reaction pathway is also proposed and the control experiments support the involvement of the palladium-catalyzed inert sp(3) C-H activation as one of the key steps.