NiH-Catalyzed Regio- and Enantioselective Hydroalkylation for the Synthesis of β- or γ-Branched Chiral Aromatic N-Heterocycles

A nickel hydride-catalyzed regio- and enantioselective hydroalkylation reaction was developed to give access to a library of chiral beta- or gamma-branched aromatic N-heterocycles. This intriguing asymmetric transformation features excellent selectivities, step- and atom-economies, and generating two kinds of chiral products through one synthetic strategy. Furthermore, the possible reaction mechanism was extensively investigated using numerous control experiments and density functional theory calculations.

Automated summary

A nickel hydride-catalyzed hydroalkylation reaction was developed for the synthesis of a library of chiral aromatic N-heterocycles. The reaction demonstrated excellent selectivities, step- and atom-economies, and resulted in two kinds of chiral products through one synthetic strategy. The possible reaction mechanism was extensively investigated using control experiments and density functional theory calculations.