We report herein a general palladium-catalyzed enantioselective three-component reaction of N-sulfonylhydrazones, aryl halides, and cyclopropanols. This modular method enables the efficient one-pot synthesis of enantioenriched γ,γ-diarylcarbonyl scaffolds with high stereoselectivity. Key advantages include readily available substrates and broad functional group tolerance. Combined experimental and computational studies demonstrate oxidative addition of the aryl halide as the rate-determining step and carbenation as the enantio-determining step. It also revealed multiple stabilizing anagostic C–H···Pd interactions between the catalytic system and substrates, which is the key for achieving high stereoselectivity.
Yang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.