Chiral Bronsted Acid Catalyzed Enantioselective Addition of α-Isocyanoacetamides to Aldehydes

A clean and highly efficient enantioselective addition-of alpha-isocyanoacetamides to aliphatic aldehydes catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid in the presence of MS 5 angstrom in toluene at -40 degrees C was developed. Excellent yields (85-98%) and good to excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee) were achieved.