A highly enantioselective intramolecular arylative dearomatization of indoles via palladium-catalyzed reductive Heck reactions was developed. The new strategy led to a series of optically active indolines bearing C2-quaternary stereocenters in modest to good yields with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee).

Enantioselective intramolecular dearomative Heck reactions have been developed by Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling of aryl halides or aryl triflates with the internal CC bond of indoles, benzofurans, pyrroles, and furans. A variety of structurally unique spiroheterocycles and benzofused heterocycles having N/O-substituted quaternary carbon stereocenters, and exocyclic olefin moieties were afforded in moderate to excellent yields with good to excellent enantioselectivities, showing a broad scope of the present protocol. A series of new BINOL- and H8-BINOL-based phosphoramidite ligands were synthesized and proved to be efficient chiral ligands in the reactions of C2-tethered substrates to form spiroheterocycles. (S)-SEGPHOS turned out to be a good ligand for the reaction delivering benzofused indolines and pyrrolines. Synthetic applications based on transformations of the exocyclic double bonds were realized without loss of enantiopurities, including hydrogenation, hydroborylation, and stereospecific ring-expanding rearrangement.

NÀ N Atropisomers are a common motif in natural products and represent a significant dimension for exploration in modern pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry. However, the catalytic atroposelective synthesis of such molecules remains challenging, hampering meaningful development. In particular, an enantioselective synthesis of NÀ N bisindole atropisomers is unprecedented. Herein, the first enantioselective synthesis of NÀ N bisindole atropisomers via the palladium-catalyzed de novo construction of one indole skeleton is presented. A wide variety of NÀ N axially chiral bisindoles were generated in good yields with excellent enantioselectivities via a cascade condensation/N-arylation reaction. Structurally diverse indole-pyrrole, indolecarbazole, and non-biaryl-indole atropisomers possessing a chiral NÀ N axis were accessed using this protocol. Moreover, investigations using density functional theory (DFT) calculations provided insight into the reaction mechanism and enantiocontrol.

Palladium-catalyzed enantioselective dearomative arylalkynylation of N-substituted indoles, through a Heck/Sonogashira sequence, was established using a new BINOL-based phosphoramidite as the chiral ligand. A wide range of 2,3-disubstituted indolines, bearing vicinal quaternary and tertiary stereocenters, were efficiently constructed in one step with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 97 % ee) and diastereoselectivities (>20:1).

Nitrogen–nitrogen bonds containing motifs are ubiquitous in natural products and bioactive compounds. However, the atropisomerism arising from a restricted rotation around an N–N bond is largely overlooked. Here, we describe a method to access the first enantioselective synthesis of N–N biaryl atropisomers via a Cu-bisoxazoline-catalyzed Friedel–Crafts alkylation reaction. A wide range of axially chiral N–N bisazaheterocycle compounds were efficiently prepared in high yields with excellent enantioselectivities via desymmetrization and kinetic resolution. Heating experiments showed that the axially chiral bisazaheterocycle products have high rotational barriers.

A highly enantioselective palladium/l-proline-catalyzed α-arylative desymmetrization of cyclohexanones was developed. The new strategy for α-arylation reaction led to a series of optically active morphan derivatives bearing α-carbonyl tertiary stereocenters in good yields with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee).

A palladium-catalyzed dearomative arylborylation of indoles is reported, which provides straightforward access to structurally diverse indolines bearing vicinal tetrasubstituted and borylated trisubstituted stereocenters in moderate to good yields with excellent diastereoselectivities.

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