The catalytic asymmetric [4+2] annulations of isatins with but-3-yn-2-one catalyzed by the Cinchona alkaloids-derived oragnocatalyst (DHQD) 2 PHAL have been developed in the presence of 3.0 equivalents of d-diethyl tartrate in the mixed solvent (diphenyl ether/diethyl ether = 1/1) or a slightly modified one, affording the corresponding substituted spiro[indoline-3,2'-pyran]-2,4'-A C H T U N G T R E N N U N G (3'H)-diones in good to excellent yields with high enantioselectivities under mild conditions. Keywords: asymmetric [4+2] annulations; but-3-yn-2-one; Cinchona alkaloids; isatins; spiro[indoline-3,2'-pyran]s Spirooxindoles are privileged structural motifs found in many alkaloids such as gelsemine, mitraphylline or SR 121463 and unnatural biologically active compounds.[1] Encouraged by their unique structural features and significant biological activities, various effective synthetic methods for the construction of spirooxindoles and subsequent applications in natural product synthesis have been extensively explored over the last decade.[2] Previously, we reported that the nitrogen-containing Brønsted bases-mediated [4+2] annulations of isatins with but-3-yn-2-one could proceed smoothly to give the corresponding spiro[indoline-3,2'-pyran]-2,4'A C H T U N G T R E N N U N G (3'H)-diones in good to excellent yields under mild conditions. [3] In this paper, we wish to report the asymmetric variant to afford these products in good yields and good to high ee values with the Cinchona alkaloid-derived organo-A C H T U N G T R E N N U N G catalyst hydroquindine-1,4-phthalazinediyl diether [(DHQD) 2 PHAL] in the presence of d-diethyl tartrate. [4,5] We initially utilized isatin 1a (0.1 mmol, 1.0 equiv.) and but-3-yn-2-one 2a (0.3 mmol, 3.0 equiv.) as the substrates in the presence of several Cinchona alkaloids and 1R,2R-cyclohexanediamine derived organocatalysts (20 mol%) in THF at room temperature to examine the reaction outcomes and the results are shown in Scheme SI-1 in the Supporting Information. It was found that the corresponding cyclic product 3a was obtained in 65% yield along with 25% ee using (DHQD) 2 PHAL (20 mol%) as the catalyst (Scheme 1). In order to improve the reaction outcome, we screened various proton sources (1.0 equiv.) such as 732 cation exchange resin, (R)/(S)-binol, dcamphorsulfonic acid, 2-adamantanol, and d/l-diethyl tartrate or its derivatives for this reaction and the results are summarized in Table SI-1 in the Supporting Information. As can be seen from Table SI-1, we found that 3a could be obtained in 90% yield and 68% ee using (DHQD) 2 PHAL (20 mol%) as the catalyst in the presence of 3.0 equivalents of d-diethyl tartrate. Moreover, after further screening of the emScheme 1. Screening of the catalysts for the asymmetric [4+2] annulation of isatin 1a with but-3-yn-2-one 2a.