The first regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselective allylic alkylation of acyclic β-ketoesters to form vicinal tertiary and all-carbon quaternary stereocenters is reported. Critical to the successful development of this method was the employment of iridium catalysis in concert with N-aryl-phosphoramidite ligands. Broad functional group tolerance is observed at the keto-, ester-, and α-positions ...

A highly efficient, simple and clean solvent-free protocol for the synthesis of polyhydroquinolines is described. The one-pot multi-component condensation reaction between arylaldehydes, dimedone (5,5-dimethylcyclohexane-1,3-dione), β-ketoesters and ammonium acetate in the presence of catalytic amount of (2.5 mol%) melamine trisulfonic acid (MTSA) as a recyclable, green and attractive sulfonic ...

Chiral metal catalysts have been widely applied to asymmetric transformations. However, the electronic structure of the catalyst and how it contributes to the activation of the substrate is seldom investigated. Here, we report an empirical approach for providing insights into the catalytic activation process in the distorted Ni(II)-catalysed asymmetric [3+2] cycloaddition of α-ketoesters. We qu...

An aqueous solution of boric acid, as an efficient and green catalytic system, was efficiently utilized four-component cascade reaction of aryl aldehydes, dimedone, β-ketoesters and ammonium acetate to give hexahydroquinolines. By the reaction of boric acid with water, H+ was generated and efficiently catalyzed the reaction under mild and green condition. Also, optimization of the reaction cond...