Materials and Methods. Unless otherwise stated, reactions were performed in flamedried glassware under an argon or nitrogen atmosphere using dry deoxygenated solvents. Solvents were dried by passage through an activated alumina column under argon. Diphenylphosphine, di-p-tolylphosphine, dicyclohexylphosphine, and diisobutylphosphine were purchased from Strem Chemicals, Inc. and were used as received. Copper (I) iodide, N,N′-dimethylethylenediamine, cesium carbonate, 2-bromobenzoyl chloride, tetrafluoroboric acid solution and molecular sieves 4Å were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Company and used as received. Bis-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)phosphine was prepared by the known method. 1 (S)-Leucinol and (S)-tryptophanol were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Company and Chem-Impex International, Inc., respectively. The other starting chiral amino alcohols were prepared by the reduction of the corresponding amino acids, 2 which were purchased from Chem-Impex International, Inc. 2-Bromo-5-methoxybenzoyl chloride and 2-bromo-5-(trifluoromethyl)-benzoyl chloride were prepared from the corresponding benzoic acid derivatives.
3Reaction temperatures were controlled by an IKAmag temperature modulator. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was performed using E. Merck silica gel 60 F254 precoated plates (0.25 mm) and visualized by UV fluorescence quenching, anisaldehyde, CAM, or KMnO 4 staining. ICN Silica gel (particle size 0.032-0.063 mm) was used for flash chromatography. Optical rotations were measured with a Jasco P-1010 polarimeter at 589 nm.