A chiral SPINOL derived phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric N-alkylation reaction of indoles with cyclic α-diaryl-substituted N-acyl imines, which are generated in situ from 3-aryl 3-hydroxyisoindolinones, has been demonstrated. The transformation proceeds smoothly with a broad range of indoles and isoindolinone alcohols. A variety of indole derived N-alkylated tetrasubstituted chiral aminals were afforded in moderate to good yields (50-79%) with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee).

A general and efficient visible-light photoredox-catalyzed decarboxylative radical coupling reaction of N-aryl amino acids with aldehydes or ketones for the synthesis of 1,2-amino alcohols in water at room temperature is described.

A Pd-catalyzed linear selective intermolecular asymmetric dearomative allylic alkylation reaction of naphthols with alkoxyallenes under mild reaction conditions is reported. The transformation is successfully promoted by Pd2(dba)3 and the chiral Trost ligand and provides a general atom-efficient protocol to obtain various β-naphthalenones bearing an all carbon quaternary stereogenic center in good yields and chemo- and stereoselectivities.

A chiral phosphoric acid‐catalysed asymmetric dearomative [3+2] cyclisation for accessing enantioenriched benzofuroindolines with two vicinal tetrasubstituted carbon centres from readily available 1,4‐quinone and 2,3‐disubstituted indoles is developed. This protocol distinguishes itself by availability of the starting materials and mild reaction conditions in a stereoselective manner, which provides a complement to the existing methods for the asymmetric construction of pharmaceutically and biologically active benzofuro[2,3‐b]indoline compounds.magnified image