Palladium-Catalyzed Enantioselective C-H Aminocarbonylation: Synthesis of Chiral Isoquinolinones.

A Pd-catalyzed enantioselective C-H carbonylation by desymmetrization was developed with commercially available L-pyroglutamic acid as chiral ligand. Isoquinolinones were successfully obtained with good yields and high enantioselectivities. Mechanistic studies and DFT calculations provided a reasonable reaction pathway.