Synthesis, characterization and application of alpha-beta-oligopeptides as bifunctional organocatalysts for the aldol reaction

Although the idea of using substoichiometric amounts of organic molecules to promote chemical transformations may look obvious and reminiscent of the natural activity of many enzymes, only few, scattered reports appeared in this field before that List and Barbas showed proline´s ability to catalyze the asymmetric intermolecular aldol reaction. The rigid beta-aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acids have been employed as useful building blocks for the preparation of oligopeptides that proved to be extremely effective catalyst for the asymmetric inter- and intramolecular aldol reaction