The first enantioselective organocatalytic alkylation of electron-rich benzene rings with alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes has been accomplished. The use of iminium catalysis has provided a new strategy for the enantioselective construction of benzylic stereogenicity, an important chiral synthon for natural product and medicinal agent synthesis. The (2S,5S)-5-benzyl-2-tert-butylimidazolidinone amine catalyst has been found to mediate the conjugate addition of a wide variety of substituted and unsubstituted anilines to unsaturated aldehydes. A diverse spectrum of aldehyde substrates can also be accommodated in this new organocatalytic transformation. While catalyst quantities of 10 mol % were generally employed in this study, successful alkylations conducted with catalyst loadings as low as 1 mol % are described.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja025981p | DOI Listing |
Chem Sci
December 2024
Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia Via Elce di Sotto, 8 06123 Perugia Italy
The majority of enantioselective organocatalytic reactions occur in apolar or weakly polar organic solvents. Nevertheless, the influence of solute-solvent van der Waals forces on the relative kinetics of competitive pathways remains poorly understood. In this study, we provide a first insight into the nature and strength of these interactions at the transition state level using advanced computational tools, shedding light into their influence on the selectivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecules
January 2025
Department of Pharmacy, Jilin Medical University, Jilin 132013, China.
An efficient stereoselective synthesis of 10-hydroxy-10-(1-indol-3-yl)-9-(10)-phenanthrene derivatives was realized through an organocatalyzed Friedel-Crafts reaction of phenanthrenequinones and indoles using a (,)-dimethylaminocyclohexyl-squaramide as the catalyst. Under the optimized conditions, the desired chiral products were obtained in good yields (73-90%) with moderate to high ee values (up to 97% ee). Two pairs of synthesized enantiomers were subjected to evaluation of their antiproliferative activities on four types of human cancer cell lines and one human umbilical vein endothelial cell line using the CCK-8 assay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
January 2025
Chongqing Key Laboratory of Natural Product Synthesis and Drug Research, Chemical Biology Research Center, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
Helicene-shaped molecules are compelling chemical structures with unique twisted helical chirality and remarkable properties. Although progress occurs in the catalytic asymmetric synthesis of helicene (-like) molecules, the enantioselective synthesis of multiple helicenes, especially four or higher helicity, is still challenging and has yet to be achieved. Herein, we report an organocatalytic [4 + 2] cycloadditions to achieve double S-shaped quadruple helicene-like molecules with high enantioselectivity (up to 96% e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTetrahedron Lett
October 2024
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Neutral dual hydrogen bond donors (HBDs) are effective catalysts that enhance the electrophilicity of substrates or the Lewis/Brønsted acidity of reagents through an anion-binding mechanism. Despite their success in various enantioselective organocatalytic reactions, their application to transition metal catalysis remains rare. Herein, we report the activation of gold(I) precatalysts by chiral ureas, leading to enantioselective hydroarylation of allenes with indoles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrg Lett
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, North Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
Herein, an organocatalytic asymmetric desymmetrizing [4+2] cycloaddition/base-mediated oxidative aromatization reaction sequence has been developed between spirophthalide 2,5-cyclohexadienones and β-methyl cinnamaldehydes. The reaction proceeds through chiral dienamine intermediate formation, and the densely functionalized spirocyclic isobenzofuranone-embedded chiral arenes were formed in high yields with excellent enantioselectivities. A 2-fold desymmetrization reaction was also performed, and the products were obtained in high enantioselectivities.
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