This manuscript is dedicated to Prof. Dieter Enders on the occasion of his 70th birthday and for his seminal contributions to organic chemistry.
Abstract
Transformations of 2-formylbenzoic acid provide direct access to a series of heterocyclic
organic compounds such as phthalides and isoindolinones. Here, we use (+)-cinchonine
as a catalyst in conjunction with nonafluoro-tert-butanol as a hydrogen-bond donor to afford enantiomerically enriched acylated 3-hydroxyphthalides
with up to 99% yield and 90% ee through dynamic kinetic resolution. Moreover, various 3-alkoxyphthalides as well
as 2-alkyl-3-hydroxy-1-isoindolinones were synthesized from 2-formylbenzoic acid.
Keywords
acylation - chiral auxiliary - cinchona alkaloids - dynamic kinetic resolution - organocatalysis