Vanadium(IV) acetylacetonate catalyzed stereoselective synthesis of β-enaminoesters and β-enaminones

An efficient and stereoselective procedure has been described for the synthesis of a series of β-enaminoesters and β-enaminones by vanadium(IV) acetylacetonate [VO(acac)2] catalyzed reaction of β-ketoesters and 1,3-diketones with both aliphatic and aromatic amines. X-ray crystallographic studies of some representative compounds corroborate two types of structural geometry formed by inter-molecular as well as intra-molecular hydrogen bonds.