Although a wide variety of chiral organocatalysts have been developed for asymmetric transformations, effective chiral dialkyl sulfide organocatalysts remain relatively rare and under-developed, despite the potential utility of dialkyl sulfide catalysts. Herein, we report the development of chiral bifunctional dialkyl sulfide catalysts possessing a urea moiety for regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselective bromolactonization. The importance of the bifunctional design of chiral sulfide catalysts was clearly demonstrated in the present work. The roles of both the sulfide and urea moieties of the catalyst were clarified based on the results of experimental and theoretical investigation.

Highly regioselective 5-exo bromolactonizations of stilbene-type carboxylic acids bearing electron-withdrawing substituents are achieved for the first time via the use of chiral bifunctional sulfide catalysts possessing a urea moiety. The chiral phthalide products are obtained in moderate to good enantioselectivities as the result of 5-exo cyclizations.