Cobalt-Catalyzed Regiodivergent and Enantioselective Intermolecular Coupling of 1,1-Disubstituted Allenes and Aldehydes

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 May 2;62(19):e202219257. doi: 10.1002/anie.202219257. Epub 2023 Mar 22.

Abstract

Catalytic enantioselective coupling of 1,1-disubstituted allenes and aldehydes through regiodivergent oxidative cyclization followed by stereoselective protonation or reductive elimination promoted by chiral phosphine-Co complexes is presented. Such processes represent unprecedented and unique reaction pathways for Co catalysis that enable catalytic enantioselective generation of metallacycles with divergent regioselectivity accurately controlled by chiral ligands, affording a wide range of allylic alcohols and homoallylic alcohols that are otherwise difficult to access without the need of pre-formation of stoichiometric amounts of alkenyl- and allyl-metal reagents in up to 92 % yield, >98 : 2 regioselectivity, >98 : 2 dr and >99.5 : 0.5 er.

Keywords: Cobalt; Enantioselective Catalysis; Oxidative Cyclization; Regiodivergent.