Recently, Professor Zhao Baoguo and Professor Xiao Xiao's team from the SHNU College of Chemistry and Materials Science have made new progress in the field of vitamin B6 biomimetic catalysis. Through strategic design of a novel central chiral pyridoxal catalyst, they achieved direct asymmetric allylic alkylation of unprotected α-substituted amino acid esters, generating a series of α-quaternary carbon glutamic acid derivatives that are important for pharmaceuticals and synthesis. The relevant results were published in the Journal of American Chemical Society under the title Direct Enantioselective Allylic Alkylation of α-Amino Esters to Quaternary Glutamates via Strategic Pyridoxal Catalyst Design. Shanghai Normal University is the sole affiliating institution, with Shi Zhengjun, a master's student from SHNU, as the first author, Wu Tianhao, an undergraduate student in Applied Chemistry in Grade 21, as the second author, and Professors Zhao Baoguo and Xiao Xiao as co-corresponding authors.
This study demonstrates the pivotal role of pyridoxal catalysts in the field of asymmetric catalysis, further enriching the types of pyridoxal catalysts and expanding the field of biomimetic catalytic chemistry based on vitamin B6.
