The cyclization of allenoates with activated isocyanides was reported for the first time. While Ag catalysis led to an unprecedented enantioselective synthesis of 3H pyrroles, a simple procedure using PPh3 produced a wide range of polysubstituted 1H pyrroles with high efficiency.

The first catalytic cascade reaction of activated isocyanides with para-quinone methide-aryl esters is presented. Catalyst-enabled divergent pathways have also been achieved to deliver skeletally diverse products. While Ag catalysis leads to an unprecedented highly diastereoselective synthesis of tricyclic ketals, a simple procedure employing Cu catalysis produces oxazole-containing triarylmethanes in high efficiency through an unexpected C-C bond cleavage.

Presented herein is a new complexity-generating method in which both functionalities of α-imino esters undergo stereoselective cyclization with isocyanoacetates to produce directly linked oxazole-imidazolines, which can be transformed into highly functionalized α,β-diamino esters and imidazolinium salts in high diastereo- and enantiopurity.

An asymmetric cobalt‐catalyzed hydroboration/cyclization of 1,7‐enynes to synthesize chiral six‐membered N‐heterocyclic compounds was developed. A variety of aniline‐tethered 1,7‐enynes react with pinacolborane to afford the corresponding chiral boryl‐functionalized quinoline derivatives in high yields with high enantioselectivity. This cobalt‐catalyzed asymmetric cyclization of 1,7‐enyens provides a general approach to access a series of chiral quinoline derivatives containing quaternary stereocenters.

We present herein a new mode of three-component reactions between isocyanoacetates, amines and 3-formylchromones. Both experimental and DFT studies revealed that this Ag-catalyzed unusual transformation is initiated by a facile aza-Michael addition instead of the conventional imine condensation. This catalytic method enables an efficient synthesis of polysubstituted pyrroles.