Cooperative N-Heterocyclic Carbene/Lewis Acid Catalysis for Highly Stereoselective Annulation Reactions with Homoenolates

A new approach that takes advantage of N-heterocyclic carbene/Lewis acid cooperative catalysis provides access to cis-1,3,4-trisubstituted cyclopentenes from enals and chalcone derivatives with high levels of diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity. The presence of Ti(O/Pr)(4) as the Lewis acid allows for efficient substrate preorganization, which translates into high levels of diastereoselectivity. Additionally, we demonstrate the possibility of controlling the absolute stereochemistry of NHC-catalyzed reactions by employing a catalytic amount of a chiral Lewis acid as the unique source of optically active promoter.