A Quinine-Squaramide Catalyzed Enantioselective Aza-Friedel-Crafts Reaction of Cyclic Trifluoromethyl Ketimines with Naphthols and Electron-Rich Phenols

A highly enantioselective aza-Friedel-Crafts (aza-F-C) reaction of cyclic trifluoromethyl ketimines and naphthols/phenols was developed with fluorenyl-substituted quinine-squaramide as the catalyst. This protocol enables direct access to biologically important chiral trifluoromethyl dihydroquinazolinones with up to 99% yields and up to 99% ee's.