The Versatile Conversion of Acyclic Amides to a-Alkylated Amines

The reaction of N-acyliminium ion with a variety of nucleophiles is one of the powerful method to introduce various substituents at the a-carbon of an amine. Particularly this type of inter and intramolecular C-C bond formation can be effectively applied to the synthesis of the bioactive natural or unnatural compounds as well as many bioactive peptidomimetics. Accordingly. much attention has been devoted to the practical and efficient methods for the generation of acyliminium ion precursors though there are many important aspects in the reaction involving N-acyliminium ions. (omitted)