Enantioselective silver-catalyzed propargylation of imines

A catalytic enantioselective method for the propargylation of aldimines is described. A silver catalyst ligated by a bidentate phoshpine is utilized to provide good yields and high ee's for a variety of substrates. Homopropargylic sulfonamide products undergo facile silver-mediated cyclization to generate 2-pyrrolines, useful intermediates for alkaloid synthesis.