Nickel‐Catalyzed Asymmetric Reductive Carbo‐Carboxylation of Alkenes with CO 2

Abstract Reductive carboxylation of organo (pseudo)halides with CO 2 is a powerful method to provide carboxylic acids quickly. Notably, the catalytic reductive carbo‐carboxylation of unsaturated hydrocarbons via CO 2 fixation is a highly challenging but desirable approach for structurally diverse carboxylic acids. There are only a few reports and no examples of alkenes via transition metal catalysis. We report the first asymmetric reductive carbo‐carboxylation of alkenes with CO 2 via nickel catalysis. A variety of aryl (pseudo)halides, such as aryl bromides, aryl triflates and inert aryl chlorides of particular note, undergo the reaction smoothly to give important oxindole‐3‐acetic acid derivatives bearing a C3‐quaternary stereocenter. This transformation features mild reaction conditions, wide substrate scope, facile scalability, good to excellent chemo‐, regio‐ and enantioselectivities. The method highlights the formal synthesis of (−)‐Esermethole, (−)‐Physostigmine and (−)‐Physovenine, and the total synthesis of (−)‐Debromoflustramide B, (−)‐Debromoflustramine B and (+)‐Coixspirolactam A; thereby, opening an avenue for the total synthesis of chiral natural products with CO 2 .