International audienceWe thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (for Accelerator and Discovery grants to L.B.) and the University of Ottawa (for a University Research Chair to L.B.) for support of this research. We also thank Prof. Derek Pratt (University of Ottawa) for insightful discussion

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S-Phthalimidomethyl xanthates derived from various alpha-amino acids add efficiently to a range of unactivated alkenes to give a variety of highly functionalized, protected amines. In the case of phenylalanine and tyrosine derived xanthates, the adducts can be further converted into the rare 4-substituted 2-aminotetralines by a radical ring closure onto the aromatic ring.