A chiral cobalt(ii) complex catalyzed enantioselective aza-Piancatelli rearrangement/Diels-Alder cascade reaction.

A chiral N,N'-dioxide/cobalt(ii) complex catalyzed highly diastereoselective and enantioselective tandem aza-Piancatelli rearrangement/intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction has been disclosed. Various valuable hexahydro-2a,5-epoxycyclopenta[cd]isoindoles bearing six contiguous stereocenters have been obtained in good yields with excellent diastereo- and enantio-selectivities from a wide range of both readily available 2-furylcarbinols and N-(furan-2-ylmethyl)anilines.