Construction of planar chiral ferrocene diketone derivatives via a cascade Pd-catalyzed asymmetric C–H arylation/α-arylation reaction

Abstract

Planar chiral ferrocenes are extensively used in catalytic asymmetric transformations in both academic research and industry. Here, we present a Pd-catalyzed cascade approach involving asymmetric C–H arylation and α-arylation to synthesize planar chiral ferrocene diketone derivatives with high efficiency (88% yield) and enantioselectivity (99% ee). Mechanistic studies, including kinetic analysis and in situ³¹P NMR analysis, clarify the sequence of the cascade reactions.