Adding a functional handle to nature's building blocks: the asymmetric synthesis of β-hydroxy-α-amino acids

β-Hydroxy-α-amino acids are not only used by synthetic chemists but are also found in natural products, many of which show anti-microbial or anti-cancer properties. Over the past 30 years, chemists have searched for many asymmetric routes to these useful building blocks. Initial attempts to synthesize these compounds utilized chiral auxiliaries and the reactions of glycine equivalents with aldehydes to form two stereocenters in one step. Other methods with the formation of specific intermediates or that were aimed at a specific amino acid have also been investigated. Asymmetric hydrogenation by dynamic kinetic resolution has emerged as a high-yielding method for the synthesis of an array of modified amino acids with good stereoselectivity. More recently, amino-acid functionalization and multicomponent reactions have increased the atom economy and simplified many long and difficult routes. In this Focus Review, many of the elegant syntheses of these compounds are explored. The applications of β-hydroxy-α-amino acids in natural-product synthesis are also mentioned.