“…It depicts that the single stereocenter has an S -conformation, and through a retrosynthetic strategy, enantiopure ( S )- 4k′ is proved to be an excellent building block for the synthesis of ( S )-duloxetine. Only the S -enantiomer of duloxetine is pharmaceutically active for the treatment of anxiety, diabetes-related pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain, etc . Since it has been proposed that N , N -disubstitution can be used to modify amide- O -metal coordination, N , N -dimethyl-3-oxo-3-phenylpropanamide ( 3r ) was prepared and tested for a similar asymmetric reduction, and the corresponding β-hydroxyamide ( S )- 4r was isolated with 63% yield and 96% ee (Scheme ).…”