A novel nickelaphotoredox platform enables highly enantio- and regioselective carboacylation of alkenes with alkyl boronate salts and acyl chlorides for the modular asymmetric synthesis of α-amino ketone derivatives. This redox-neutral protocol features a broad substrate scope and scalability and enables ready transformation into valuable chiral synthons and bioactive molecules. Mechanistic studies were undertaken to elucidate the reaction pathway of this alkene difunctionalization.
Tan et al. (Wed,) studied this question.