Chiral organic contact ion pairs in metal-free catalytic enantioselective oxidative cross-dehydrogenative coupling of tertiary amines to ketones

Abstract

A novel chiral organic contact ion-pair catalytic system has been developed for the transition-metal-free catalytic enantioselective oxidative cross-dehydrogenative coupling of tertiary amines to ketones for sp³ C–H functionalization. This new strategy provides an efficient and environmentally friendly way to access diversify optically active C1-alkylated tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives from simple starting materials under mild conditions.