One-Pot Synthesis of Helical Polyaryls

Significance

A one-pot synthesis of axially chiral polyaryls through an Ir-catalyzed enantioselective [2+2+2] cycloaddition reaction is described. In this contribution, the authors extend the previously published Ir-catalyzed cycloaddition reaction to generate polyaryls with remarkable selectivity (T. Shibata, T. Fujimoto, K. Yokota, K. Takagi J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 8382-8383). Up to eight consecutive axial chiralities were controlled with >99% ee and 92% isolated yield. A polyaryl with the opposite helical sense could be obtained utilizing (R,R)-MeDUPHOS.