Enantioselective Synthesis of Atropisomers Featuring Pentatomic Heteroaromatics

Axially chiral biaryl skeletons are ubiquitous stuctural motifs that are widely represented in pharmaceuticals and natural products, and have been widely used as privileged chiral ligands/catalysts in asymmetric synthesis. Therefore, the asymmetric construction of these compounds has received tremendous attention. However, the established strategies are mainly limited to the construction of biaryls containing hexatomic aromatics, and the approaches towards atropisomers featuring pentatomic heteroaromatics connected through C-C or C-N bond have emerged gradually only until recently. The main hurdle is basically due to the increased distance of substituents ortho to the axis, which is responsible for lower barriers to rotation, thus rendering the asymmetric synthesis more challenging. This review summarizes recent advances on the enantioselective synthesis of atropisomers featuring pentatomic heteroaromatics.