Design of chiral selenide–amide ligands for Cu-catalyzed enantioselective Friedel–Crafts alkylation reactions of indoles with ( E )-2-alkenoyl-pyridines

Herein, a new set of chiral β-seleno amide ligands was designed by merging the skeleton of cyclic amino acid with amino selenide for Cu-catalyzed enantioselective Friedel–Crafts alkylation reactions of indoles. A wide variety of indoles and (E)-2-Alkenoyl-pyridines were tested in this reaction, furnishing corresponding products in up to 93% yield and 60% ee.