Dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Chemistry Department at SUSTech.
Abstract
Asymmetric hydrocarbofunctionalization of alkenes has emerged as an efficient strategy for synthesizing optically active molecules through a carbon–carbon bond-forming process from readily available alkenes and carboelectrophiles. Here, we present a summary of our efforts to control the regio- and enantioselectivity of hydrocarbofunctionalizations of electron-deficient alkenes with a nickel catalyst and a chiral bisoxazolidine ligand. The reaction permits electron-reversed hydrocarbofunctionalizations of acrylamides with excellent enantioselectivity. This operationally simple protocol permits the asymmetric hydroalkylation, hydrobenzylation, or hydropropargylation of acrylamides. This reaction is useful for preparing a wide range of α-branched chiral amides with broad functional-group tolerance.
Key words
hydroalkylations - hydrobenzylations - hydropropargylations - hydrofunctionalizations - asymmetric catalysis - cross-couplings