Enantioselective Organocatalytic Conjugate Addition of Aldehydes to Nitrodienes

CF3CO2H-Catalyzed Synthesis of 3-Alkynylpyrrole Derivatives and Their Controlled Reduction

A transition-metal-free methodology employing nitroenynes and enaminones has been developed to access 3-alkynylpyrrole derivatives. This mild cyclization reaction might proceed through the nucleophilic addition, intramolecular cyclization, and the subsequent elimination processes. The protocol features a broad substrate scope, good selectivity, and functional group tolerance. Notably, the advantage of this method is also highlighted by the controlled reduction to generate alkenyl- or alkylpyrrole derivatives in good to excellent yields.

Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of hydroxyarenes with nitroenynes to access chiral heterocycles via sequential catalysis

Naphthols, hydroxyindoles and an activated phenol are reacted with differently substituted (E)-nitrobut-1-en-3-ynes using the commercially available Rawal's chiral squaramide. The corresponding β-nitroalkynes were obtained with good yields and excellent enantioselectivities. Moreover, dihydronaphthofurans can be accessed via silver catalysed cyclization in a tandem one-pot procedure, with high preservation of the optical purity.

Direct Catalytic Asymmetric Doubly Vinylogous Michael Addition of α,β-Unsaturated γ-Butyrolactams to Dienones

An asymmetric doubly vinylogous Michael addition (DVMA) of α,β-unsaturated γ-butyrolactams to sterically congested β-substituted cyclic dienones with high site-, diastereo-, and enantioselectivity has been achieved. An unprecedented DVMA/vinylogous Michael addition/isomerization cascade reaction affords chiral fused tricyclic γ-lactams with four newly formed stereocenters.

Highly enantioselective Michael reaction employing cycloheptanone and cyclooctanone as nucleophiles

An organocatalytic Michael reaction of cycloheptanone and cyclooctanone with nitrodienes and nitroolefins catalyzed by primary amine catalysts has been accomplished.

Organocatalytic enantioselective Michael addition of cyclic hemiacetals to nitroolefins: a facile access to chiral substituted 5- and 6-membered cyclic ethers

An efficient aminocatalytic enantioselective Michael addition of readily available cyclic hemiacetals to nitroolefins has been developed.

Enantioselective Michael additions of aldehydes to nitroalkenes catalyzed with ionically tagged organocatalyst

Enantioselective organocatalytic Michael additions affords useful building blocks for many biologically and medicinally relevant compounds. Ionically-tagged diphenylprolinol silyl ether efficiently catalyzes several Michael additions of aldehydes to nitroalkenes in ionic liquids. The Michael additions work well in ionic liquids; yields up to 95% and enantioselectivities up to 95% ee were achieved. Furthermore, in some cases, the catalytic system was reusable.

Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of 1,3-enyne scaffolds: design and synthesis of conjugated nitro dienynes as novel Michael acceptors and development of a new synthetic methodology

A catalytic enantioselective synthesis of 1,3-enynes for the development of nitro dienynes as novel Michael acceptors has been developed.

Beyond classical reactivity patterns: shifting from 1,4- to 1,6-additions in regio- and enantioselective organocatalyzed vinylogous reactions of olefinic lactones with enals and 2,4-dienals

Organocatalysis is shown to expand the classical reactivity pattern for conjugate addition reactions. It is demonstrated that the site selectivity can be extended from 1,4- to 1,6-additions for the enantioselective vinylogous additions of methyl-substituted vinylogous lactones to enals and 2,4-dienals. This novel reactivity is demonstrated for methyl-substituted olefinic azlactones and butyrolactones. Their synthetic potential is first highlighted by the development of the organocatalytic regioselective vinylogous 1,4-addition to enals which proceeds with a very high level of double-bond geometry control and excellent enantioselectivity. The concept is developed further for the unprecedented intermolecular enantioselective organocatalyzed vinylogous 1,6-addition to linear 2,4-dienals, by which the site selectivity of the process is extended from the β-position to the remote δ-position of the 2,4-dienal. The organocatalyst controls the newly generated stereocenter six bonds away from the stereocenter of the catalyst with a high level of enantiocontrol, and the products are obtained with full control of double-bonds configuration. The scope of these new reaction concepts is demonstrated for a series of aliphatic and aryl-substituted enals and 2,4-dienals undergoing enantioselective vinylogous reactions with methyl-substituted olefinic azlactones and butyrolactones. Furthermore, mechanistic considerations are presented which can account for the change from 1,4- to 1,6-selectivity. Finally, a number of different transformations of the optically active 1,4- and 1,6-addition products are demonstrated.

Proline sulphonamide-catalysed Yamada-Otani condensation: reaction development, substrate scope and scaffold reactivity

The development of a proline sulphonamide-catalysed method for enantioselective and diastereoselective construction of functionalized cyclohexenones is described. Impact of catalyst structure as well as solvent effects and additives are explored. A significant substrate scope is demonstrated by variation of both the aldehyde and the enone components. Diastereoselective derivatization of the cyclohexenone scaffold illustrates its utility as a building block for chemical synthesis.