Isothiourea-Catalyzed Enantioselective Synthesis of -3,4-Dihydrothiopyranones: Harnessing Thiochalcones as Original Michael Acceptors.

A highly enantioselective formal (4 + 2)-cycloaddition between carboxylic acids and thiochalcones promoted by (+)-HBTM-2.1 isothiourea organocatalyst has been reported. The methodology relied on the generation of 1-ammonium enolate intermediates and proceeded through a nucleophilic 1,4-addition-thiolactonization cascade.

Strategies toward the Difunctionalizations of Enamide Derivatives for Synthesizing α,β-Substituted Amines.

Enamide and enecarbamate derivatives containing a nucleophilic center at the β-position from their nitrogen atom as well as a latent electrophilic site at their α-position are interesting motifs in organic chemistry. This dual reactivity─analogous that of the enamines─enables difunctionalization and increased structural complexity. Furthermore, an electron-withdrawing group on nitrogen drastically increases their stability.

Decatungstate-Photocatalyzed Dearomative Hydroacylation of Indoles: Direct Synthesis of 2-Acylindolines.

We report herein a convenient and scalable dearomative hydroacylation reaction of indoles. Employing readily available aldehydes as the acyl source and TBADT as an inexpensive direct HAT photocatalyst, a variety of indoles derivatives were converted into synthetically interesting 2-acylindolines in good to excellent yields as well as great diastereoselectivity under mild conditions. An asymmetric version of the reaction was successfully developed and an experimental mechanistic investigation was carried out in order to gain further insights on the assumed reaction pathway.

Chiral Phosphoric Acid-Catalyzed Enantioselective Construction of 2,3-Disubstituted Indolines.

Highly enantio- and regioselective (3 + 2) formal cycloaddition of β-substituted ene- and thioenecarbamates as well as cyclic enamides with quinone diimides catalyzed by a BINOL- and SPINOL-derived phosphoric acid is reported. A wide variety of 2,3-disubstituted 2-aminoindolines, including polycyclic ones, were prepared in generally high yields (up to 98%) with moderate to complete diastereoselectivities and in most cases excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee).