A facile one-pot synthesis of chiral β-amino esters

We report a facile one-pot synthesis of chiral beta-amino esters via direct reductive amination of beta-keto esters with ammonium acetate (NH4OAc) and H-2 in the presence of chiral Ru-CIMeOBIPHEP catalysts using 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) as a solvent, leading to beta-amino esters in high yields with high enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee).