Asymmetric bifunctionalization of allenes with aryl iodides and amino acids enabled by chiral aldehyde/palladium combined catalysis

Chem Sci. 2024 Jul 16;15(32):12983-12988. doi: 10.1039/d4sc03398a. eCollection 2024 Aug 14.

Abstract

Even though catalytic asymmetric bifunctionalization of allenes has been extensively studied, almost all of the reported examples have been achieved in a two-component manner. In this study, we report a highly efficient asymmetric bifunctionalization of allenes with iodohydrocarbons and NH2-unprotected amino acid esters. The adopted chiral aldehyde/palladium combined catalytic system precisely governs the chemoselectivity, regioselectivity, and stereoselectivity of this three-component reaction. A wide range of substituted aryl iodides, allenes and amino acid esters can well participate in this reaction and deliver structurally diverse α,α-disubstituted α-amino acid esters with excellent experimental outcomes. One of the resulting products is utilized for the total synthesis of the molecule (S,R)-VPC01091.