Enantiodivergent Kinetic Resolution of 1,1′‐Biaryl‐2,2′‐Diols and Amino Alcohols by Dipeptide‐Phosphonium Salt Catalysis Inspired by the Atherton–Todd Reaction

A highly enantiodivergent organocatalytic method is disclosed for the synthesis of atropisomeric biaryls via kinetic resolution inspired by a dipeptide-phosphonium salt-catalyzed Atherton–Todd (A-T) reaction. This flexible approach led to both R- and S-enantiomers by fine-tuning of bifunctional phosphonium with excellent selectivity factors (s) of up to 1057 and 525, respectively. The potential of newly synthesized O-phosphorylated biaryl diols was illustrated by the synthesis of axially chiral organophosphorus compounds. Mechanistic investigations suggest that the bifunctional phosphonium halide catalyst differentiates between the in-situ-generated P-species in the A-T process, mainly involving phosphoryl chloride and phosphoric anhydride, thus leading to highly enantiodivergent O-phosphorylation reactions. Furthermore hydrogen bonding interactions between the catalysts and phosphorus molecules were crucial in asymmetric induction.