The first regioselective, diastereoselective, and enantioselective organocatalyzed Michael−Michael cascade of vinylogous ketone enolates and nitroalkenes for the construction of fully substituted cyclobutanes is achieved by the deployment of the appropriate chiral squaramide catalyst and the pertinent substituent on the substrate. The domino reaction provided cyclobutanes with four contiguous stereocenters, including a quaternary center in good yields with diastereomeric ratio of >20:1 and with enantioselectivities of mostly up to 98% enantiomeric excess (ee). The structures and the absolute configurations of the adducts were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analyses of the appropriate products.

A convenient photocatalyzed oxidative coupling reaction of 4-alkyl-3,4-dihydroquinoxalin-2(1H)-one and its derivatives with a variety of nucleophiles was developed with a ruthenium photoredox catalyst and oxygen under a household compact fluorescent light. With a slower reaction rate, the cross coupling transformation can be achieved in the absence of an external photocatalyst with a similar isolated yield.An application to the synthesis of natural product cephalandole A was also demonstrated.

A mild and convenient process for direct transformation of nitroalkanes to the corresponding nitriles was developed using a visible-light photoredox catalysis strategy with household decorative blue LEDs and the additives of Et3N and DIPIBA (or DIPEA). Application of the process in secondary nitroalkanes bearing a β-alcohol resulted in a domino process of the retro-Henry reaction and the subsequent acetalization, aldol, cyanohydrin, and ring-contraction reactions with stereoselectivities. The photocatalytic reaction was demonstrated by a continuous flow method.