Highly Enantioselective Trapping of Carboxylic Oxonium Ylides with Imines for Direct Assembly of Enantioenriched γ-Butenolides

Enantioenrichedγ-butenolides are valuable structural cores in many pharmaceuticals and natural products,but their direct and catalytically asymmetric assembly remains rare.Here,we report an efficient,atom-economic synthetic strategy for enantioenrichedγ-butenolides via a unique enantioselective reaction of cyclopropene carboxylic acids with imines under the synergistic catalysis of Rh2(esp)2/chiral Brønsted acid system.The reaction involved trapping of carboxylic oxonium ylides,generated from cyclopropene carboxylic acids,which presented as the first asymmetric trapping reactive intermediate in the process.