Construction of halogenated tetrasubstituted carbon centers through copper(I)-catalyzed asymmetric alkylation of 2-azaarylesters

Catalytic asymmetric alkylation of α-halogenated enolates is a challenging issue due to their extenuated nucleophilicity and the electrophilic and oxidative nature of the parent α-Cl/Br carbonyl compounds. Herein, by means of coordination-stabilized copper(I) α-F/Cl enolates as the nucleophiles, a catalytic asymmetric alkylation of 2-azaarylesters is achieved with a broad substrate scope on alkyl halides, which constructs halogenated tetrasubstituted carbon centers in good to excellent yields with high enantioselectivity. Moreover, the present alkylation protocol is successfully applied in the building of chiral quaternary carbon centers. Finally, synthetic utilities of the products are demonstrated by several facile transformations based on the alkyl chloride group and the ester group.