Enantioselective Organocatalytic Intramolecular Aza-Diels-Alder Reaction.

A highly efficient catalytic enantioselective intramolecular Povarov reaction was developed with primary anilines as 2-azadiene precursors. A wide variety of angularly fused azacycles were obtained without column chromatography in high to excellent yields and with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivity (d.r.>99:1 and up to e.r. 99:1). Furthermore, the catalyst loading could be lowered to 1 mol %, and the obtained azacycles could be used as key intermediates for further transformations to generate additional molecular diversity.