We report the development of a stereoselective method for the allylation of ketones utilizing N-substituted allyl equivalents generated from a chiral allenamide. By choice of the appropriate ligand for the Cu-catalyst, high linear selectivity can be obtained with good diastereocontrol. This methodology allows access to chiral γ-hydroxyaldehyde equivalents that were applied in the synthesis of chiral γ-lactones and 2,5-disubstitued tetrahydrofurans.

We report the development of a stereoselective method for the allylation of ketones utilizing N-substituted allyl equivalents generated from a chiral allenamide. By employing N-heterocyclic carbenes as ligands for the Cu catalyst, good branched selectivity can be obtained with high diastereocontrol. This methodology allows access to a catalytically generated, polarity-reversed (umpolung) allyl nucleophile to enable the preparation of chiral 1,2-aminoalcohol synthons containing a dissonant functional group relationship.

Chiral γ-lactones are prevalent organic architectures found in a large array of natural products. In this work, we disclose the development of a modified catalytic system utilizing a commercially available Cu-phosphite catalyst for the diastereoselective reductive coupling of chiral allenamides and ketones to afford chiral γ-lactone precursors in 80:20 to 99:1 dr.

Herein, we report the development of a Cu-catalyzed enantioselective borylative aminoallylation of aldehydes using a N-substituted allene to access boryl-substituted 1,2-aminoalcohol synthons for diversification to chiral heteroatom-rich organic compounds. The reported reaction provides access to several different substitution patterns of chiral 1,2-aminoalcohol products from the same readily available starting materials with high diastereo- and enantioselectivity.

The Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reaction of 2-bromo-1,3-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzene with arylboronic acids was evaluated and determined to suffer from the formation of large amounts of boronic acid homocoupling products in conjunction with dehalogenation. Homocoupling product formation in this process likely occurs through a rare protonolysis/second transmetalation event rather than by the well-established mechanism requiring the involvement of O2. The scope of this boronic acid homocoupling reaction was investigated and shown to predominate with electron-deficient arylboronic acids. Finally, a good yield of cross-coupling products could be obtained by employing dicyclohexyl(2′,6′-dimethoxybiphenyl-2-yl)phosphine (SPhos) as the ligand.