“…Thus, the use of chiral superacids, which are well established for numerous organocatalytic transformations, 78, 79 could be exploited to induce the electrophilic activation of the weakly basic alkyne function. The first example of an intramolecular enantioselective carbocyclization of an alkyne catalyzed by chiral Brønsted superacids was described in 2020 by Toullec et al 80 The key point was the use of o-biarylalkynes 253 as substrates, which possessed a 2-hydroxynaphtyl substituent as a directing group (Scheme 63). Indeed, this substituent induced (i) an increase of the basicity of the triple bond towards BA, (ii) a polarization of the alkyne that control the regioselectivity of the protonation during the formation of the vinyl cation, and (iii) the creation of a chiral environment between the substrate and the catalyst by Hbonding, which was mandatory to achieve high levels of enantioinduction.…”