Selective peptide modifications via ruthenium-catalyzed allylic alkylations.

Ruthenium-catalyzed allylic alkylations are an interesting alternative to palladium-catalyzed processes, since they can provide products which are not accessible under Pd-catalysis. Chiral terminal allylic substrates can be reacted with perfect stereo- and regioretention, and also (Z)-configured allylic substrates can be converted isomerization-free. This allows highly stereoselective modifications of peptides at glycine subunits. The configuration at the α-position of the new generated α-amino acid can be controlled by the chiral peptide chain, and at the β-position by using chiral allylic substrates.