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A copper-catalyzed Mannich-type oxidative β-functionalization reaction of amines has been developed. In the presence of an oxidant and a copper catalyst, tertiary amines reacted with N-tosylimines, providing synthetically important 1,3-diamines and enamines, respectively. Preliminary mechanistic studies suggested that the oxidation of the tertiary amine to the enamine intermediate triggers subsequent Mannich-type reactions with N-tosylimines and thus enables the direct β-functionalization of the tertiary amines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An asymmetric carbenoid insertion into S–H bonds catalyzed by copper–chiral spiro bisoxazoline complexes has been developed, in which a series of α-mercaptoesters were produced in high yields with moderate to good enantioselectivities (up to 85% ee); this result represents the best enantioselectivity in the catalytic asymmetric carbenoid S–H bond insertion reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An iridium complex with a newly prepared chiral spiro amino-phosphine ligand efficiently catalyzed the hydrogenation of both β-aryl-β-methyl-nitroalkenes and β-alkyl-β-methyl-nitroalkenes to the corresponding saturated nitroalkanes, which represents the first report of a chiral catalyst that exhibits high enantioselectivity for the challenging hydrogenation of β,β-dialkyl-nitroalkenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]