Sequential decarboxylative [3+2] cycloaddition and Staudinger/aza-Wittig reactions for diastereoselective synthesis of tetrahydro-pyrroloquinazolines and tetrahedro-pyrrolobenzodiazepines

[Display omitted] •Decarboxylative [3+2] cycloaddition and Staudinger/aza-Wittig reactions.•Diastereoselective [3+2] cycloaddition of azomethine ylides.•Staudinger reaction of azides for iminophosphoranes.•aza-Wittig reaction of iminophosphoranes for tetrahydro-pyrroloquinazolines and tetrahydro-pyrrolobenzodiazepines. A method for diastereoselective synthesis of tetrahydro-pyrroloquinazolines and tetrahydro-pyrrolobenzodiazepines is developed through sequential reactions including decarboxylative 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of non-stabilized azomethine ylides, N-acylation or N-alkylation, and the Staudinger/aza-Wittig reactions.