Copper-Catalyzed Enantioselective Intramolecular N-Arylation, an Efficient Method for Kinetic Resolutions

For the first time, copper-catalyzed intramolecular N-arylation was successfully applied to the kinetic resolution strategy. Under the catalysis of Cul-BINOL derived ligands, the kinetic resolution of rac-2-amino-3-(2-iodoaryl)propionates and rac-2-amino-4-(2-iodoaryl)butanoates afforded chiral intramolecular coupling products and recovered the starting materials in high enantioselectivity (s factors up to 245).