Chiral 1,2‐diamines are privileged scaffolds among bioactive natural products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, ligands for transition‐metal‐based asymmetric catalysis and organocatalysts. Despite this interest, the construction of chiral 1,2‐diamine motifs still remains a challenge. To address this, an iridium(III)‐catalyzed intermolecular C(sp3)–H amidation reaction was developed. This method relies on the design of a new, cheap and cleavable exo‐protecting/directing group derived from camphorsulfonic acid, which is directly installed from easily accessible precursors, and furnishes scalemic free 1,2‐diamines upon cleavage of both nitrogen substituents. It was found applicable to both α‐secondary and α‐tertiary‐1,2‐diamines, for which a two‐step protocol involving intermolecular olefin hydroamination and C(sp3)–H amidation was developed. Kinetic and computational studies provided insights into the observed reactivity difference between pairs of diastereoisomeric substrates.

Chiral 1,2‐diamines are privileged scaffolds among bioactive natural products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, ligands for transition‐metal‐based asymmetric catalysis and organocatalysts. Despite this interest, the construction of chiral 1,2‐diamine motifs still remains a challenge. To address this, an iridium(III)‐catalyzed intermolecular C(sp3)–H amidation reaction was developed. This method relies on the design of a new, cheap and cleavable exo‐protecting/directing group derived from camphorsulfonic acid, which is directly installed from easily accessible precursors, and furnishes scalemic free 1,2‐diamines upon cleavage of both nitrogen substituents. It was found applicable to both α‐secondary and α‐tertiary‐1,2‐diamines, for which a two‐step protocol involving intermolecular olefin hydroamination and C(sp3)–H amidation was developed. Kinetic and computational studies provided insights into the observed reactivity difference between pairs of diastereoisomeric substrates.

Morpholine is a heterocyclic moiety widely used in medicinal chemistry as a building block. It has unique physicochemical properties, as it can improve both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients. However, the efficient synthesis of enantiomerically pure morpholine building blocks remains challenging. Herein, we report a synthesis of optically pure 3-hydroxymethylmorpholine building blocks, as well as their sulfamidates, exploiting a stereospecific strategy from chiral pool material.