Chiral Amine Synthesis – Recent Developments and Trends for Enamide Reduction, Reductive Amination, and Imine Reduction

The review examines the chiral amine literature from 2000-2009 (May) concerning enantioselective and diastereoselective methods for N-acylenamide and enamine reduction, reductive amination, and imine reduction. The reaction steps for each strategy, from ketone to primary chiral amine, are clearly defined, with best methods and yields for starting material preparation and final deprotection noted. Categories of chiral amines have been defined in Section 1 to allow the reader to quickly understand whether their specific target amine falls within a difficult to synthesize, or not, structural class. Amino acids are not considered in this work.