Efficient and Highly Enantioselective Construction of Trifluoromethylated Quaternary Stereogenic Centers via High-Pressure Mediated Organocatalytic Conjugate Addition of Nitromethane to β,β-Disubstituted Enones

Abstract

A very effective high-pressure-induced acceleration of asymmetric organocatalytic conjugate addition of nitromethane to sterically congested β,β-disubstituted β-CF3 enones has been developed. A combination of pressure (8-10 kbar) and noncovalent catalysis with low-loading of chiral tertiary amine-thioureas (0.5-3 mol %) is shown to provide very efficient access to a wide range of γ-nitroketones containing trifluoromethylated all-carbon quaternary stereogenic centers in the β-position (80-97%, 92-98% ee).