Organocatalytic asymmetric multicomponent reactions of aromatic aldehydes and anilines with β-ketoesters: facile and atom-economical access to chiral tetrahydropyridinesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. CCDC 885330 and 898709. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c2cc38349g

The first catalytic asymmetric pseudo five-component (AB 2 C 2 type) reaction is reported. A spirocyclic chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed one-pot multicomponent reaction of aromatic aldehydes, anilines and β-ketoesters and afforded highly functionalized enantioenriched tetrahydropyridines with high levels of stereocontrol. A spirocyclic phosphoric acid exhibited good diastereo- and enantioselectivities in the catalytic asymmetric pseudo five-component reaction to afford enantioenriched tetrahydropyridines.