Enantioselective synthesis of chiral α,α-dialkyl indoles and related azoles by cobalt-catalyzed hydroalkylation and regioselectivity switch

General, catalytic and enantioselective construction of chiral α,α -dialkyl indoles represents an important yet challenging objective to be developed. Herein we describe a cobalt catalyzed enantioselective anti- Markovnikov alkene hydroalkylation via the remote stereocontrol for the synthesis of α,α -dialkyl indoles and other N -heterocycles. This asymmetric C(sp 3 )−C(sp 3 ) coupling features high flexibility in introducing a diverse set of alkyl groups at the α -position of chiral N -heterocycles. The utility of this methodology has been demonstrated by late-stage functionalization of drug molecules, asymmetric synthesis of bioactive molecules, natural products and functional materials, and identification of a class of molecules exhibiting anti-apoptosis activities in UVB-irradiated HaCaT cells. Ligands play a vital role in controlling the reaction regioselectivity. Changing the ligand from bi-dentate L6 to tridentate L12 enables CoH-catalyzed Markovnikov hydroalkylation. Mechanistic studies disclose that the anti- Markovnikov hydroalkylation involves a migratory insertion process while the Markovnikov hydroalkylation involves a MHAT process.