Chiral Brønsted acid catalyzed enantioselective addition of alpha-isocyanoacetamides to aldehydes.

A clean and highly efficient enantioselective addition of alpha-isocyanoacetamides to aliphatic aldehydes catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid in the presence of MS 5 A in toluene at -40 degrees C was developed. Excellent yields (85-98%) and good to excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee) were achieved.