We herein disclose a palladium-catalyzed asymmetric desymmetric cycloisomerization of alkynyl-tethered cyclohexadienes, providing optically pure hydrindanes with one tertiary and one quaternary stereocenter. This reaction features a broad substrate scope, high atom economy, and good to excellent enantioselectivities. In addition, the diene and enone motifs embedded in the products offer synthetic handles for further structural diversification.
Lu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.