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

We 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.

Automated summary

The study presents a versatile and highly enantioselective intramolecular hydrocarbonation reaction for the synthesis of heteropolycyclic systems with chiral quaternary carbon stereocenters. The method relies on an iridium-(I)/bisphosphine chiral catalyst, yielding fused indole and pyrrole products with high enantiomeric excesses. DFT computational studies provided a detailed mechanistic profile and identified weak non-covalent interactions as key factors controlling the enantioselectivity.