Nucleophile-catalyzed asymmetric acylations of silyl ketene imines: Application to the enantioselective synthesis of verapamil

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.200461886

All-carbon quaternary stereocenters are generated with good enantioselectivity through a nucleophile-catalyzed acylation reaction of silyl ketene imines (see scheme, TBS = tert-butyldimethylsilyl). The method is applied to the first catalytic asymmetric synthesis of the drug verapamil.