Enantioconvergent Cross-Couplings of Racemic Alkylmetal Reagents with Unactivated Secondary Alkyl Electrophiles: Catalytic Asymmetric Negishi α-Alkylations of N-Boc-pyrrolidine

Although enantioconvergent alkyl-alkyl couplings of racemic electrophiles have been developed, there have been no reports of the corresponding reactions of racemic nucleophiles. Herein we describe Negishi cross-couplings of racemic alpha-zincated N-Boc-pyrrolidine with unactivated secondary halides, thus providing a one-pot, catalytic asymmetric method for the synthesis of a range of 2-alkylpyrrolidines (an important family of target molecules) from N-Boc-pyrrolidine, a commercially available precursor. Preliminary mechanistic studies indicated that two of the most straightforward mechanisms for enantioconvergence (dynamic kinetic resolution of the organometallic coupling partner and a simple beta-hydride elimination/beta-migratory insertion pathway) are unlikely to be operative.