Novel (thio)urea-tertiary phosphines were developed for use as bifunctional organocatalysts readily available from naturally occurring molecules: saccharides and amino acids. The efficiency of the organocatalysts was demonstrated in the asymmetric Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reaction of aromatic aldehydes with acrylates.
The MBH products were obtained in good yields (up to 85%) and with high enantioselectivities (up to 87% ee).