Utilization of CO₂ as a C1 Building Block in a Tandem Asymmetric A³ Coupling-Carboxylative Cyclization Sequence to 2-Oxazolidinones

Abstract

We report a tandem asymmetric aldehyde–alkyne–amine (A3) coupling-carboxylative cyclization sequence for the highly enantioselective synthesis of chiral N-aryl 2-oxazolidinones. This is a rare example of a multicatalyst-promoted asymmetric tandem reaction using CO2 as a C1 synthon. Notably, the copper species and ligand from the upstream A3 reaction are internally reused to facilitate the downstream silver-catalyzed carboxylative cyclization.