Enantioselective S(N)2 Alkylation of Homoenolates by N‐Heterocyclic Carbene Catalysis (Adv. Sci. 29/2023)

Enantioselective β‐Alkylation In article number 2303517, Yong Huang, Jiean Chen, and co‐workers, describe a novel S(N)2 reaction mode for NHC‐mediated homoenolate chemistry, enabling enantioselective β‐alkylation, allylation and propargylation of enals. By combining with a “transient acyl trap” strategy, a diverse collection of chiral oxindole derivatives could be accessed, offering an efficient synthetic entry to the pyrroloindoline motif frequently encountered in natural products. [Image: see text]