Manganese (IV) oxide-catalyzed electrophilic diamination of electron-deficient alkenes provides an easy synthesis of alpha,beta-diamino acid and ketone derivatives for peptidomimetic studies.

Manganese (IV) oxide was found to catalyze the diamination reaction of alpha,beta-unsaturated esters and ketones with N,N-dichloro-p-toluenesulfonamide and acetonitrile as the halogen and nitrogen sources. The reaction is convenient to be conducted by simply mixing three reactants in the presence of manganese dioxide catalyst and 4 A molecular sieves, and provides an easy access to 1-p-toluenesulfonyl-3-trichloromethyl-4,5-imidazoline derivatives, which are useful building blocks for peptidomimetic studies.