Synthesis of Highly Functionalized Chiral 3,3鈥?Disubstituted Oxindoles via an Organocatalytic Enantioselective Michael Addition of Nitroalkanes to Indolylidenecyanoacetates
An efficient bifunctional cinchona alkaloid derived thiourea-promoted enantioselective conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to indolylidenecyanoacetates has been developed under neat conditions. The process leads to synthetically interesting densely functionalized 3,3鈥?disubstituted oxindoles with creation of up to three stereogenic centers.