Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.132, No.10, 3298-3298, 2010
An Organocatalytic Asymmetric Chlorolactonization
A reagent controlled organocatalytic enantioselective chlorolactonization reaction has been developed. Several 4-aryl pentenoic acids were cyclized in the presence of 0.1 equiv of (DHQD)(2)PHAL, employing various N-chlorinated hydantoins as the terminal chlorenium source. Ten examples are presented with selectivities ranging from 43 to 90% ee. This work represents the first example of an enantioselective reagent-controlled chlorolactonization that approaches synthetically useful enantioselectivities.