Appearing online today in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, we describe the most recent findings from our program in dual catalytic enantioselective alkene functionalization via a transient directing group strategy. Specifically, we developed a method for hydroalkenylation and hydroalkynylation of alkenyl aldehydes that is enabled by reversible condensation of tert-leucine. Together with the lab of Prof. Peng Liu at the University of Pittsburgh, we applied density functional theory to elucidate the structural features of the amino acid co-catalyst that lead to high catalytic efficiency and high enantioselectivity. Congrats to the entire project team!

For a link to the paper, click here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202304013

As a reminder, a pre-print of this work in summer 2022: https://chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxiv/article-details/635875afca86b8d57fc36848