Highly Enantioselective Iridium(I)‐Catalyzed Hydrocarbonation of Alkenes: A Versatile Approach to Heterocyclic Systems Bearing Quaternary Stereocenters

Abstract

AbstractWe report a versatile, highly enantioselective intramolecular hydrocarbonation reaction that provides a direct access to heteropolycyclic systems bearing chiral quaternary carbon stereocenters. The method, which relies on an iridium(I)/bisphosphine chiral catalyst, is particularly efficient for the synthesis of five‐, six‐ and seven‐membered fused indole and pyrrole products, bearing one and two stereocenters, with enantiomeric excesses of up to >99 %. DFT computational studies allowed to obtain a detailed mechanistic profile and identify a cluster of weak non‐covalent interactions as key factors to control the enantioselectivity.