The first highly asymmetric catalytic synthesis of densely functionalized dihydrobenzofurans is reported, which starts from ortho ‐hydroxy‐containing para ‐quinone methides. The reaction relies on an unprecedented formal [4+1]‐annulation of these quinone methides with allenoates in the presence of a commercially available chiral phosphine catalyst. The chiral dihydrobenzofurans were obtained as single diastereomers in yields up to 90 % and with enantiomeric ratios up to 95:5.

Herein we report the efficient one- and two-carbon homologation of 1° and 2° alcohols to their corresponding homologated esters via the Mitsunobu reaction using β-carbonyl benzothiazole (BT) sulfone intermediates. The one-carbon homologation approach uses standard Mitsunobu C-S bond formation, oxidation and subsequent alkylation, while the two-carbon homologation uses a less common C-C bond forming Mitsunobu reaction. In this latter case, the use of β-BT sulfone bearing esters lowers the p K sufficiently enough for the substrate to be used as a carbon-based nucleophile and deliver the homologated β-BT sulfone ester, and this superfluous sulfone group can then be cleaved. In this paper we describe several methods for the effective desulfonylation of BT sulfones and have developed methodology for one-pot alkylation-desulfonylation sequences. As such, overall, a one-carbon homologation sequence can be achieved in a two-pot (four step) procedure and the two-carbon homologation in a two-pot (three step) procedure (three-pot; four step when C-acid synthesis is included). This methodology has been applied to a wide variety of functionality (esters, silyl ethers, benzyls, heteroaryls, ketones, olefins and alkynes) and are all tolerated well providing good to very good overall yields. The power of our method was demonstrated in site-selective ingenol C20 allylic alcohol two-carbon homologation.

In this paper, we report a unified approach to N-substituted and N,N-disubstituted benzothiazole (BT) sulfonamides. Our approach to BT-sulfonamides starts from simple commercially available building blocks (benzo[d]thiazole-2-thiol and primary and secondary amines) that are connected via (a) a S oxidation/S−N coupling approach, (b) a S−N coupling/S-oxidation sequence, or via (c) a S-oxidation/S−F bond formation/SuFEx approach. The labile N−H bond in N-monoalkylated BT-sulfonamides (pK a (BTSO 2 N(H)Bn) = 3.34 ± 0.05) further allowed us to develop a simple weak base-promoted N-alkylation method and a stereoselective microwave-promoted Fukuyama−Mitsunobu reaction. N-Alkyl-N-aryl BT-sulfonamides were accessed with the help of the Chan− Lam coupling reaction. Developed methods were further used in stereo and chemoselective transformations of podophyllotoxin and several amino alcohols.Article pubs.acs.org/joc

In this paper, we report the formation of highly electrophilic 1,1-deactivated olefins, their use as novel synthetic building blocks, and their transformation to structurally diverse molecular scaffolds. Synthesis of 1,1-deactivated olefins substituted with a BT-sulfonyl group and a carbonyl or nitrile, respectively, consists of unusual Ti­(OPr i )4-mediated Knoevenagel-type condensation and proceed in good to excellent yields. Generated olefins can be further transformed in a highly stereoselective manner and in good yields to various polyfunctionalized heterocycles and acyclic molecular scaffolds. Overall, the obtained structures are accessed in two to four steps starting from the (mostly) commercially available aldehydes. In addition, the presence of the BT-sulfonyl group in prepared structures allows for further chemoselective functionalization/post-synthetic transformations to provide structurally diverse final compounds.