A highly predictive model to correlate the steric and electronic parameters of tertiary amine thiourea catalysts with the stereoselectivity of Michael reactions of 3-substituted benzofuranones and alkyl 2-phthalimidoacrylates is described. As predicted, new 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzyl- and methyl-substituted tertiary amine thioureas turned out to be highly suitable catalysts for this reaction and enabled the synthesis of enantioenriched α-amino acid derivatives with 1,3-nonadjacent stereogenic centers.

Ahighly predictive model to correlate the steric and electronic parameters of tertiary amine thiourea catalysts with the stereoselectivity of Michael reactions of 3-substituted benzofuranones and alkyl 2-phthalimidoacrylates is described. As predicted, new 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzyl-and methylsubstituted tertiary amine thioureas turned out to be highly suitable catalysts for this reaction and enabled the synthesis of enantioenriched a-amino acid derivatives with 1,3-nonadjacent stereogenic centers.

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