The Winding Road towards an Atropo‐enantioselective ‘ARYNE Coupling’

The enantioselective addition of aryllithiums onto arynes, leading to axially chiral biaryls in the absence of transition metals, was investigated by means of chiral ligands of lithium. Biaryls with a high degree of steric congestion around the aryl–aryl bond could be obtained.
Abstract
For the first time, the challenging atropo‐enantioselective coupling of in‐situ generated arynes and aryllithiums in the presence of a chiral ligand of lithium was investigated. This preliminary study demonstrates the feasibility of this concept, by affording enantioenriched axially chiral biaryls even in the case of products showing a high degree of steric congestion around the newly created aryl−aryl bond.
Wiley: European Journal of Organic Chemistry: Table of Contents
Authors: David Augros, Corinne Comoy, Yves Fort, Frédéric R. Leroux, Armen Panossian
doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202100087