Enantioselective Diels–Alder reaction of anthracene by chiral tritylium catalysis

• Qichao Zhang,
• Jian Lv and
• Sanzhong Luo

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2019, 15, 1304–1312, doi:10.3762/bjoc.15.129

• presence of strong Lewis acids [36]. We herein report the design and exploration of a new trityl carbocation that has a chiral weakly coordinating Fe(III)-based phosphate anion for the effective asymmetric catalysis in the Diels–Alder reaction of anthracenes. Results and Discussion In our previous work, we

• of a highly active carbocation Lewis acid catalyst. The stereocontrol potential of the chiral tritylium ion pair was demonstrated by its application in an enantioselective Diels–Alder reaction of anthracene. Keywords: anthracene; carbocation catalysis; Diels–Alder reaction; Fe(III)-based phosphate

• anion; tritylium salt; Introduction Carbocation Lewis acid catalysis has grown significantly over the last two decades [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. The development of asymmetric carbocation catalysts has been long pursued but remains a challenging task. One strategy is to design and