Atroposelective Synthesis of Axially Chiral Biaryldiols via Organocatalytic Arylation of 2-Naphthols

The first phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric direct arylative reactions of 2-naphthols with quinone derivatives have been developed, providing efficient access to a class of axially chiral biaryldiols in good yields with excellent enantioselectivities under mild reaction conditions. This approach is a highly convergent and functional group tolerant route to the rapid construction of axially chiral compounds from simple, readily available starting materials. The excellent stereocontrol of the process stems from efficient transfer of stereochemical information from the chiral phosphoric acid into the axis chirality of the biaryldiol products. Preliminary results demonstrate that the biaryldiols can act as efficient chiral ligands in asymmetric transformations.