ABSTRACT
Among the possible asymmetric approaches that we considered, the first is illustrated in Scheme 1: formation of an anion a to a nitrogen atom is well precedented and there are asymmetric versions of this operation that employ a chiral template at N .^ 3 Alternatively, a riskier but potentially more rewarding approach may be to use an achiral alkylation substrate in the presence of a chiral non-racemic activator or c a ta ly s t.^ All these possibilities were explored to some extent.
