Dinuclear zinc-catalyzed asymmetric Friedel-Crafts alkylation/cyclization of 3-aminophenols with α,α-dicyanoolefins

Chem Commun (Camb). 2021 Sep 28;57(77):9854-9857. doi: 10.1039/d1cc04177k.

Abstract

An enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation/cyclization tandem reaction of 3-aminophenols with α,α-dicyanoolefins has been performed successfully using a chiral dinuclear zinc catalyst, leading to a range of chiral 2-amino-4H-chromenes (up to 98% yield and >99% ee). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first asymmetric example of the dinuclear zinc-catalysed functionalization of aromatic C(sp2)-H bonds.