BINOL Phosphoric Acid-Catalyzed Asymmetric Mannich Reaction of Cyclic N-Acyl Ketimines with Cyclic Enones.

A highly enantio- and diastereoselective Mannich reaction of cyclic N-acyl ketimines generated in situ from 3-hydroxyisoindolin-1-ones with cyclic enones has been accomplished using a chiral phosphoric acid catalyst to afford the chiral isoindalinone derivatives in high yields with excellent enantioselectivities (upto 97 % ee). This is the first report on the synthesis of chiral isoindolin-1-ones bearing adjacent quaternary and tertiary stereogenic centers.