Diisopropylamine derivatives bearing a perfluoroalkyl chain were prepared and converted
to the corresponding lithium amides by treatment with n-butyllithium. The fluorous lithium amides reacted with ketones to efficiently produce
lithium enolates. Asymmetric deprotonation of prochiral ketones was also studied using
lithium amides derived from chiral fluorous amines, which gave optical yields comparable
with the parent nonfluorous chiral lithium amides. These reusable fluorous amines
can be easily recovered by liquid-liquid extraction or chromatographic separation.
fluorous - chiral amine - enolate - LDA - asymmetric deprotonation - recycling