Construction of Vicinal Quaternary Centers via Ru-Catalyzed Enantiospecific Allylic Substitution with Lithium Ester Enolates

J Am Chem Soc. 2024 Aug 28;146(34):23674-23679. doi: 10.1021/jacs.4c07690. Epub 2024 Aug 19.

Abstract

The installation of vicinal quaternary centers with absolute stereocontrol constitutes a considerable challenge in organic synthesis. Herein, we introduce a novel [Cp*Ru(MeCN)3]PF6/phenoxythiazoline catalyst system that achieves enantiospecific allylic substitution of tertiary carbonates with α,α-disubstituted lithium ester enolates to give products containing vicinal quaternary centers. Noteworthy features include the direct use of nonstabilized ester enolates, a class of nucleophiles which has rarely been used in transition metal-catalyzed allylic substitution reactions. The approach is demonstrated for a broad scope of tertiary electrophiles as well as ester enolates and accomplishes stereoretentive substitution with excellent conservation of ee (89-99%) and branched/linear regioselectivities (up to 40:1).