Organocatalytic Enantioselective Diels-Alder Reaction of 2-Trifluoroacetamido-1,3-dienes with alpha,beta-Unsaturated Ketones

We report herein the first examples of chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed enantioselective Diels-Alder reactions between 2-trifluoroacetamido-1,3-dienes 1 and alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds 2. Polysubstituted 1-acetamido cyclohexenes 3 were formed in high yields with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities. The reaction proceeds through a stepwise process as shown by deuterium labelling experiments. A catalytic enantioselective three-component reaction of 1, 2 and ortho-hydroxybenzhydryl alcohols 4 was subsequently developed furnishing the densely functionalized hexahydroxanthenes 5 in a highly stereoselective manner. This multicomponent reaction generates four chemical bonds with concurrent creation of five contiguous stereocenters.