Solvent-free synthesis of enantioenriched β-silyl nitroalkanes under organocatalytic conditions

• Akhil K. Dubey and
• Raghunath Chowdhury

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2642–2649, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.177

• -unsaturated carbonyl compounds catalyzed by bifunctional squaramide catalysts has been developed. This methodology offers both enantiomers of β-silyl nitroalkanes in good to excellent yields (up to 92%) and enantioselectivities (up to 97.5% ee) under solvent-free conditions at room temperature. Control

• experiments reveal that the presence of a β-silyl group in the enones is crucial for high reactivity under the optimized reaction conditions. Keywords: β-silyl α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds; β-silyl nitroalkanes; chiral organosilanes; organocatalysis; solvent-free synthesis; Introduction

• organosilanes [29][37][38], we present herein an organocatalyzed conjugate addition reaction of nitromethane to β-silyl enones to afford chiral β-silyl nitroalkanes (Scheme 1). Notably, the developed method was not only carried out under solvent-free conditions at room temperature but was found to be tolerant