Organocatalytic three-component reactions of pyruvate, aldehyde and aniline by hydrogen-bonding catalysts

Hydrogen-bonding catalysts have been found to catalyze one-pot three-component reactions of pyruvate, anilines and aldehydes to afford versatile 3-amino-1, 5-dihydro-2H-pyrrol2-ones in high yields. Both, thioureas and phosphoric acids are viable catalysts for these reactions and have comparable activity. The corresponding chiral thioureas and phosphoric acids have also been used in these three-component reactions to give pyrrol-2-ones in high yields and with moderate enantioselectivities. ((C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008).