Combining bio- and organocatalysis for the synthesis of piperidine alkaloids

There is continued interest in developing cascade processes for the synthesis of key chiral building blocks and bioactive natural products (or analogues). Here, we report a hybrid bio-organocatalytic cascade for the synthesis of a small panel of 2-substituted piperidines, relying on a transaminase to generate a key reactive intermediate for the complexity building Mannich reaction.