Enantiomerically pure beta-amino alcohols are available only through reductions of amino acids, kinetic resolution of racemic mixes of amino alcohols, or chromatographic methods. The reduction of amino acids to the corresponding amino alcohols is economically feasible only for the naturally occurring L-amino acids.
Chromatography often involves laborious separations.
The only synthetic methodologies available for the direct synthesis of amino alcohols in high yields are the amination of chiral epoxides and the asymmetric hydrogenation or reduction of prochiral alpha-amino ketones.