Organocatalyzed Enantioselective [2 + 2] Cycloaddition of C , N -Cyclic Ketimines and Allenoates.

We report a novel enantioselective and regioselective [2 + 2] cycloaddition of allenoate and C , N -cyclic ketimine catalyzed by a quinidine derivative. The methodology enables the synthesis of fused tricyclic azetidines with a quaternary stereogenic center exhibiting high enantioselectivities. The broad range of substrates demonstrates the generality of the protocol, and the resulting functional products can be easily converted to a variety of valuable synthons. To elucidate the plausible reaction mechanism and how the catalyst affects absolute stereocontrol over the products, we conducted the corresponding density functional theory (DFT) calculations.