Highly diastereo- and enantioselective, noncovalent, substrate-directable Heck desymmetrizations of cyclopentenyl olefins containing hydroxymethyl and carboxylate functional groups are presented. These conformationally unbiased cyclic olefins underwent effective arylations in yields of up to 97 %, diastereoselectivity up to >20:1, and enantiomeric excesses of up to 99 %. Noncovalent directing effects were shown to be prevalent in both Heck-Matsuda and oxidative Heck reactions, allowing the preferential formation of cis-substituted aryl cyclopentenes containing two stereocenters, including quaternary stereocenters. These results further validate the internal out-of-coordination-sphere ion-dipole interaction concept directing the reaction diastereoselectivity to the cis-Heck product. This approach is complementary to existing methods using bis-phosphine monoxide ligands to give the opposite trans-diastereoisomer. The applicability of the method is showcased by the straightforward synthesis of a potent phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor in a diastereo- and enantioselective manner. The reaction is operationally simple and has broad scope with regard to the nature of the arenediazonium salt and boronic acid employed. The mechanism and origin of stereoselectivity were investigated with control experiments and DFT calculations that fully supported the stabilizing internal out-of-coordination-sphere ion-dipole interaction between the resident functional group and cationic palladium.

A pair of mechanistically divergent multicatalytic reaction sequences has been developed consisting of nickel-catalyzed isomerization of N-allylcarbamates and subsequent phosphoric-acid-catalyzed enantioselective functionalization of the resulting intermediates. By appropriate selection of reaction partners, in situ generated imines and ene-carbamates are mechanistically partitioned to yield opposing functionalized products. Formal α-functionalization to give protected α-arylamines is achieved upon enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction with arene nucleophiles, whereas formal β-functionalization is achieved upon reaction with diarylimine electrophiles in an enantioselective Povarov-[4+2] cycloaddition.