Organocatalytic Enantioselective Diels–Alder Reaction of 2‐Trifluoroacetamido‐1,3‐dienes with α,β‐Unsaturated Ketones

Abstract

We report herein the first examples of chiral phosphoric acid‐catalyzed enantioselective Diels–Alder reactions between 2‐trifluoroacetamido‐1,3‐dienes 1 and α,β‐unsaturated carbonyl compounds 2. Polysubstituted 1‐acetamido cyclohexenes 3 were formed in high yields with excellent diastereo‐ and enantioselectivities. The reaction proceeds through a stepwise process as shown by deuterium labelling experiments. A catalytic enantioselective three‐component reaction of 1, 2 and ortho‐hydroxybenzhydryl alcohols 4 was subsequently developed furnishing the densely functionalized hexahydroxanthenes 5 in a highly stereoselective manner. This multicomponent reaction generates four chemical bonds with concurrent creation of five contiguous stereocenters.