A chiral hydrogen atom abstraction catalyst for the enantioselective epimerization of meso -diols

Hydrogen atom abstraction is an important elementary chemical process but is very difficult to carry out enantioselectively. We have developed catalysts, readily derived from the Cinchona alkaloid family of natural products, which can achieve this by virtue of their chiral amine structure. The catalyst, following single-electron oxidation, desymmetrizes