Asymmetric organocatalytic α-amination of 2-oxindoles with bis(2,2,2-trichloroethyl)azo-dicarboxylate

An enantioselective electrophilic amination of 3-substituted-2-oxindoles is reported, using bis(2,2,2-trichloroethyl)azo-dicarboxylate and commercially available Cinchona alkaloid organocatalysts. The best results were obtained in the reaction of 3-aryl substrates, with high to excellent yields (75% to quantitative) and good stereoselectivity (64–77% ee). Facile reductive conversion of the protected 3-hydrazino fragment into the corresponding primary amine was also demonstrated, to expand the synthetic flexibility of asymmetric electrophilic amination with azo-dicarboxylic esters en route to enantioenriched 3-amino-2-oxindoles. The absolute configuration of 3-amino-3-phenyl-2-oxindole was independently established by electronic circular dichroism (ECD), combined with time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT).