Synthesis of unnatural amino acids through palladium-catalyzed C(sp^3)-H functionalization

Unnatural a-amino acids have been extensively used in the modern drug discovery and protein engineering studies. They have also found applications in the development of chiral molecular catalysts and the total synthesis of diverse natural products. Accordingly the development of cost-effective approaches for the preparation of unnatural a-amino acids has received increasing attentions. Among all the available methods for this purpose, direct C–H functionalization of simple amino acids represents one of the most attractive approaches because it exhibits good atom-economy and step-efficiency. In particular, selective functionalization of either the primary or secondary C（sp^3）–H bonds in the amino acids has been explored to make versatile C–C, C–N, C–O, C–B and C–F bonds to modify the side chain of amino acids and even peptides. The present review surveys the recent advances of synthesis of chiral unnatural a-amino acids and peptides through palladium-catalyzed functionalization of un-activated C（sp^3）–H bonds.