Enantioselective (3+2) Annulation of Donor‐Acceptor Cyclopropanes with Aldehydes and Ketones Catalyzed by Brønsted Bases

The substituted tetrahydrofuran core is a structural motif in many biologically active and natural compounds. However, the scarcity of enantioselective methods developed towards its synthesis makes this field challenging and attractive to explore. Herein, the first Brønsted‐base catalyzed enantioselective (3+2) annulation of donor‐acceptor cyclopropanes with aldehydes and ketones affording enantioenriched 2,3,5‐substituted tetrahydrofurans is reported. The reaction concept is based on activation of racemic β‐cyclopropyl ketones by a chiral bifunctional Brønsted base which catalyzes the (3+2) annulation for a range of aldehydes and ketones. For aldehydes, the annulation furnished tetrahydrofurans in excellent yield, good diastereoselectivity and with excellent enantioselectivity up to >99 % ee. Surprisingly, aromatic aldehydes afforded the cis‐2,5‐substituted tetrahydrofurans as the major diastereoisomer, while for aliphatic aldehydes the trans‐cycloadduct was favored. The reaction also proceeds well for ketones affording spiro tetrahydrofurans in excellent yields and enantioselectivities (up to 99 % ee). Hammett studies have been conducted to elucidate the influence of the electronic nature of benzaldehydes on the stereoselectivity. Based on the diastereochemical outcome for the aldehydes, two reaction paths for aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes are proposed. Finally, two diastereoselective synthetic transformations have been conducted to demonstrate the synthetic potential of the obtained products. The first Brønsted‐base catalyzed enantioselective annulation of aldehydes and ketones with donor‐acceptor cyclopropanes generating chiral tetrahydrofurans is presented. For both aldehydes and ketones high yields and excellent stereoselectivities are obtained. Some intriguing mechanistic aspects are discussed, and stereoselective transformations are demonstrated.