The majority of the organocatalysts developed up to now for asymmetric organic transformations employ more than one functionalities in the catalytic mechanism that act through either covalent or non-covalent interactions. For example, proline employs the pyrrolidine nitrogen and the carboxylic acid group, while chiral thioureas combine the thiourea functionality with a tertiary or a primary amino group. We have recently shown that an amide of proline with a diamine carrying a thiourea group is a very good catalyst for the enantioselective aldol reaction.1 Trying to improve the activity, we have found that a tripeptide-like thiourea having as building blocks (S)-proline, (1S,2S)-diphenylethylenediamine and (S)- di-tert-butyl aspartate provides the products of the reaction between ketones and aromatic aldehydes in high to quantitative yields and high stereoselectivities (up to 99:1 dr and 99% ee). A number of structural modifications of the catalyst were undertaken in order to understand the role of the hydrogen bond donors of the catalyst, i.e. the prolinamide hydrogen and the two hydrogen atoms of the thiourea group. We have come to the conclusion that the importance of the hydrogen bond donors of the catalyst follows the order: thiourea hydrogen originated from aspartate › amide hydrogen › thiourea hydrogen originated from diphenylethylenediamine
