Regio‐ and Atroposelective Ring‐Opening of 1H‐Benzo[4,5]oxazolopyridinones

The development of new methods for regio‐ and stereoselective activation of C−O bonds in ethers holds significant promise for synthetic chemistry, offering advantages in terms of environmental sustainability and economic efficiency. Moreover, the C−N atropisomers represent a fascinating and crucial chiral system, extensively found in natural products, pharmaceutical leads, and the frameworks of advanced materials. In this work, we have introduced a nickel‐catalyzed regio‐ and enantioselective carbon‐oxygen arylation reaction for atroposelective synthesis of N‐arylisoquinoline‐1,3(2H,4H)‐diones. The high regioselectivity of C−O cleavage benefits from the high stability of the in situ formed (amido)ethenolate via oxidative addition. Additionally, the self‐activation of the aryl C−O bond facilitates the reaction under mild conditions, leading to outstanding enantioselectivities. The diverse post‐functionalizations of the axially chiral isoquinoline‐1,3(2H,4H)‐diones further highlighted the utility of this protocol in preparing valuable C−N atropisomers, including the chiral phosphine ligands. Regioselective and stereoselective C−O activation was achieved for atroposelective synthesis of N‐arylisoquinoline‐1,3(2H,4H)‐diones. This method set up a new synthetic strategy for C−N atropisomer synthesis via an enantioselective ring‐opening dynamic kinetic resolution process.