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Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs
Published on: January 17, 2020
Enantioselective Construction of Chiral Azahelicenes through Catalytic Asymmetric Povarov-Type Cycloaddition
Ping Wu1,2, Fa-Fu Zhou2, Xiao-Dong Qiu2
1Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Material (Ministry of Education), School of Chemistry, School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, P. R. China.
Abstract:
A new class of 3-alkynylindoles bearing a terminal alkynyl group as highly reactive two-carbon (2C) building blocks has been designed and applied in chiral phosphoric-acid-catalyzed enantioselective Povarov-type cycloaddition with fused arylamines and benzaldehydes. Thus, a series of chiral azahelicenes have been synthesized in moderate to good yields with overall excellent enantioselectivities, which exhibit switchable photophysical properties under acidic or basic conditions. This work represents the first use of terminal alkynes in an asymmetric Povarov-type cycloaddition and provides a powerful strategy for the construction of helically chiral scaffolds.
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