We disclose herein an efficient asymmetric synthesis of axially chiral lactam-fused bridged biaryls through an N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed 5 + 3 annulation of ortho-indolizinyl N-sulfonylanilines with α-bromoenals. This transformation proceeds via a Michael/lactamization domino sequence under mild conditions, enabling facile access to a diverse array of valuable medium-sized bridged heterobiaryls in good to high yields with excellent enantiocontrol. The scalability and facile derivatization of the enantioenriched products underscore the synthetic utility of this method.
Li et al. (2025) studied this question.