Harald Wack

N-Protonated amides have been proposed as intermediates in several biologically important reactions, but they have yet to be identified spectroscopically. The first step toward this goal is now reported in...

We report a mechanistically based study of bifunctional catalyst systems in which chiral nucleophiles work in conjunction with Lewis acids to produce beta-lactams in high chemical yield, diastereoselectivity, and enantioselectivity....

We detail the synthesis of a new C(2)-symmetric bis(cyclophane) ligand system that can be thought of as electronically analogous to binol, but which possesses the added "third dimension" of cyclophane...

We present a full account of a tandem catalytic, asymmetric chlorination/esterification process that produces highly optically enriched alpha-chloroesters from inexpensive, commercially available acid halides using cinchona alkaloid derivatives as catalysts...

We report practical methodology for the catalytic, asymmetric synthesis of beta-lactams resulting from the development of a catalyzed reaction of ketenes (or their derived zwitterionic enolates) and imines. The products...

[reaction: see text]. We describe a superior procedure for the catalytic, asymmetric synthesis of beta-lactams using a bifunctional catalyst system consisting of a chiral nucleophile and an achiral Lewis acid.

[reaction: see text] We describe methodology for the in situ generation of reactive monosubstituted ketenes from acid chlorides through a shuttle deprotonation process using NaH as an inexpensive stoichiometric base...