Abstract
Gold-catalyzed imination/Mannich reaction cascades on readily available 3-en-1-ynamides enable the diastereoselective synthesis of 1,5-iminoamino compounds in a one-pot operation. The reactions work well with diversified 3-en-1-ynamides, aldehydes and anilines with good to excellent diastereoselectivities. Our control experiments indicate gold-catalyzed aminations of 3-en-1-ynamides to yield α-imino allylgold intermediates that react subsequently with iminiums to implement the Mannich reactions stereoselectively. The reactions proceed with anti-selectivity for those 3-en-1-ynamides bearing acyclic alkenes whereas syn-selectivity is seen for their cycloalkene-based analogues. An open-transition state can satisfactorily rationalize these observed stereoselectivities based on an antiperiplanar conformation.