The synthesis of a broad range of enantioenriched amines by the direct Fe-catalysed coupling of amines with alcohols through the borrowing hydrogen strategy, while at least one of these substrates is achiral is reported. When starting from α-chiral amines and achiral alcohols, a wide range of enantioenriched amine products, including N-heterocyclic moieties can be obtained with complete retention of stereochemistry and the power of this method is demonstrated in the one-step synthesis of known pharmaceuticals from commercially available, simple enantiopure primary amines and achiral alcohols. It was also found that the use of β-branched enantioenriched primary alcohols and achiral amines as reaction partners leads to a partial loss of stereochemical integrity in the final product, however, a systematic optimization enabled partial retention of enantiopurity and possible parameters effecting for racemization were identified.

The synthesis of four novel non-symmetric Ni(II)-POCOP pincer complexes meta-functionalized with either benzothiazole or benzimidazole at the central aryl ring is described. All complexes were fully characterised in solution by...

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The Front Cover Picture, designed by Anastasiia Afanasenko, illustrates the methodology for the synthesis of enantioenriched amines by the direct Fe‐catalysed coupling of amines with alcohols through the borrowing hydrogen strategy, while at least one of these substrates is achiral. As in the well‐known “The Tortoise and the Hare” fable by Aesop, tortoise – stands for chiral amine – won the race retaining the stereochemical integrity in the final product, whereas beta‐branched enantioenriched primary alcohol – depicts by the hare – lost the competition due to its racemization that led to the partial loss of the chirality in the target amine. Details can be found in the Research Article by Katalin Barta and collaborators (G. Bottari, A. Afanasenko, A. A. Castillo‐Garcia, B. L. Feringa, K. Barta, Adv. Synth. Catal. 2021, 363, 5436–5442; DOI: 10.1002/adsc.202100231).