Phosphoric acid-catalyzed atroposelective construction of axially chiral arylpyrroles

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08447-z
• Publication Date: 2019-02-04T11:04:09Z
• Authors: Lei Zhang; Shao-Hua Xiang; Jun Wang; Jian Xiao; Jun-Qi Wang; Bin Tan
• Keywords: Science; Q; 01 natural sciences; Article; 0104 chemical sciences

AbstractAxially chiral arylpyrroles are key components of pharmaceuticals and natural products as well as chiral catalysts and ligands for asymmetric transformations. However, the catalytic enantioselective construction of optically active arylpyrroles remains a formidable challenge. Here we disclose a highly efficient strategy to access enantioenriched axially chiral arylpyrroles by means of organocatalytic atroposelective desymmetrization and kinetic resolution. Depending on the remote control of chiral catalyst, the arylpyrroles were obtained in high yields and excellent enantioselectivities under mild reaction conditions. This strategy tolerates a wide range of functional groups, providing a facile avenue to approach axially chiral arylpyrroles from simple and readily available starting materials. Selected arylpyrrole products proved to be efficient chiral ligands in asymmetric catalysis and also important precursors for further synthetic transformations into highly functionalized pyrroles with potential bioactivity, especially the axially chiral fully substituted arylpyrroles.