Ultra-high-throughput mapping of the chemical space of asymmetric catalysis enables accelerated reaction discovery

Abstract

The discovery of highly enantioselective catalysts and elucidating their generality face great challenges due to the complex multidimensional chemical space of asymmetric catalysis and inefficient screening methods. Here, we develop a general strategy for ultra-high-throughput mapping of the chemical space of asymmetric catalysis by escaping the time-consuming chiral chromatography separation. The ultrafast ( ~ 1000 reactions/day) and accurate (median error < ±1%) analysis of enantiomeric excess are achieved through the ion mobility-mass spectrometry combines with the diastereoisomerization strategy. A workflow for accelerated asymmetric reaction screening is established and verified by mapping the large-scale chemical space of more than 1600 reactions of α-asymmetric alkylation of aldehyde with organocatalysis and photocatalysis. Importantly, a class of high-enantioselectivity primary amine organocatalysts of 1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diamine-based sulfonamides is discovered by the accelerated screening, and the mechanism for high-selectivity is demonstrated by computational chemistry. This study provides a practical and robust solution for large-scale screening and discovery of asymmetric reactions.