Acid-Assisted Ru-Catalyzed Enantioselective Amination of 1,2-Diols through Borrowing Hydrogen

Here, we present a highly enantioselective synthesis of 1,2-amino alcohols from readily available racemic 1,2-diols through a borrowing hydrogen process. An intriguing acid effect was discovered for this Ru-catalyzed amination reaction, which led to a significant improvement of the stereoselectivity of the process. Preliminary mechanistic studies suggest a scenario of Brønsted acid-assisted dynamic kinetic asymmetric amination of alcohols.