Synthesis of biphenyl-based chiral amine catalysts from dibromopyrenes and their application in enamine catalysis

Novel axially chiral biphenyl-based amine catalysts have been designed and synthesized from dibromopyrenes. These chiral amines function as effective catalysts for asymmetric reactions through enamine intermediates.

Catalytic asymmetric oxa-Diels-Alder reaction of acroleins with simple alkenes

The catalytic asymmetric inverse-electron-demand oxa-Diels-Alder (IODA) reaction is a highly effective synthetic method for creating enantioenriched six-membered oxygen-containing heterocycles. Despite significant effort in this area, simple α,β-unsaturated aldehydes/ketones and nonpolarized alkenes are seldom utilized as substrates due to their low reactivity and difficulties in achieving enantiocontrol. This report describes an intermolecular asymmetric IODA reaction between α-bromoacroleins and neutral alkenes that is catalyzed by oxazaborolidinium cation 1f. The resulting dihydropyrans are produced in high yields and excellent enantioselectivities over a broad range of substrates. The use of acrolein in the IODA reaction produces 3,4-dihydropyran with an unoccupied C6 position in the ring structure. This unique feature is utilized in the efficient synthesis of (+)-Centrolobine, demonstrating the practical synthetic utility of this reaction. Additionally, the study found that 2,6-trans-tetrahydropyran can undergo efficient epimerization into 2,6-cis-tetrahydropyran under Lewis acidic conditions. This structural core is widespread in natural products.

Organocatalytic asymmetric synthesis of both cis- and trans-configured pyrano[2,3-b]chromenes via different dehydration pathways

The enamine-catalyzed [3 + 3]-cycloaddition between chroman-2-ols and β,γ-unsaturated α-ketoesters is developed to access both enantiomers of cis- and trans-fused pyrano[2,3-b]chromene derivatives.

Phosphine-catalyzed regiodivergent annulations of γ-substituted allenoates with conjugated dienes

A phosphine catalyzed regiodivergent annulation of γ-substituted allenoates with conjugated dienes is reported. The high regioselectivity can be achieved by tuning the nucleophilicity of the phosphine catalyst.