Scalable, stereoselective syntheses of α,β-difluoro-γ-amino acids

Backbone-fluorinated gamma-amino acids are novel shape-controlled building blocks that have potential utility in a variety of biological contexts. However, their synthesis poses challenges in terms of chemo-, regio- and stereoselectivity, and this has proven to be the major bottleneck in the ongoing development of their various biological applications. To address this problem, several new synthetic strategies were investigated in this work. This has led to the identification of new methods that are superior in terms of yield and stereocontrol.