Lewis Acid-Catalyzed Enantioselective Hydroxylation Reactions of Oxindoles and β-Keto Esters Using DBFOX Ligand

Abstract

The first catalytic enantioselective hydroxylation reaction of both 3-aryl and 3-alkyl-2-oxindoles using the DBFOX-Zn(II) complex, leading to pharmaceutically important chiral 3-hydroxy-2-oxindoles was described. The structure of oxidant was found to play an important role to increase the enantioselectivity. The methodology has successfully applied to the highly enantioselective hydroxylation of beta-keto esters using the DBFOX-Ni(II) complex.