10.1002/adsc.201701278
The research focuses on the development of an enantioselective oxy-Heck-Matsuda arylation reaction to synthesize chiral dihydrobenzofuran systems, which are important structural motifs in natural products with biological activity. The study utilizes a variety of styrenic olefins and aryldiazonium salts as reactants, with a pyrimidinebisoxazoline (PyriBox) ligand and a palladium catalyst to achieve moderate to good yields and high trans diastereoselectivity (up to 20:1) with enantioselectivities up to 90:10. The methodology is demonstrated through the concise total synthesis of the neolignan (?)-conocarpan, and the absolute stereochemistry of the products is confirmed via X-ray diffraction analysis of a brominated intermediate. The experiments involve mild reaction conditions, low catalyst loading, and various analyses, including NMR, HPLC, and X-ray crystallography, to characterize the products and assess the stereochemical outcomes.