Diastereodivergent Intermolecular 1,2-Diamination of Unactivated Alkenes Enabled by Iodine Catalysis

The stereospecific, substrate (nitrogen source)-controlled intermolecular anti- and syn-1,2-diaminations of unactivated alkenes using the same catalysis (an iodine catalyst) is reported. The combined use of the two potential methods provides access to all of the disastereomeric forms of 1,2-diamines in spite of the availability of E- and Z-alkenes, and the resulting products can be readily converted into free vicinal diamines.