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[EN]Hydrazones derived from cycloalkenones undergo an enantioselective transannular formal (3 + 2) cycloaddition catalyzed by a chiral phosphoric acid. The reaction provides high yields and excellent stereocontrol in the formation of complex adducts with one or two α-tertiary amine moieties at the ring fusion, and these can be converted into very versatile stereodefined decalin- or octahydro-1H-indene-derived 1,3-diamines through simple reductive N–N cleavage. This research was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCIU) through projects FEDER-PID2020-118422-GB-I00, FEDER-PID2019-109674-GB-I00 and FPI fellowship to J.S. and by the Basque Government (IT908-16). J.S. acknowledges the Spanish MCIU for an FPI fellowship.

Acylcyclopropanes are employed as useful donor–acceptor cyclopropanes that undergo formal (4 + 2) cyclocondensation with N-unprotected 3-substituted indoles in the presence of a Brønsted acid catalyst. The reaction involves the simultaneous alkylation of both the N and C-2 positions of the indole and provides access to the 8,9-dihydropyrido[1,2-a]indole scaffold that is the central core of several biologically relevant indole alkaloids in excellent yields and good selectivities., This research was supported by the Spanish MINECO (PID2019-104090RB-100 and FEDER-CTQ2016-76155-R), Basque Government (IT908-16), UPV/EHU (fellowship to A.O.), and Government of Aragón (Grupos Consolidados, E34_20R).

Racemic γ-substituted allenes undergo enantioselective higher order [8 + 2]-cycloaddition with azaheptafulvenes using a chiral amino acid derived amidophosphine as catalyst, providing the corresponding azaazulenoid cycloadducts with excellent levels of regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselectivities. In this reaction, the activated allylic phosphonium ylide intermediate participates as the C2-component of the reaction, in contrast to the conventional reactivity of this type of zwitterionic intermediates as C3-components in cycloaddition reactions.

5-Mercaptotetrazoles have been identified as useful and versatile Michael donors in enantioselective amine-catalyzed aza-Michael reactions with α,β-unsaturated aldehydes, showing excellent behavior as N-nucleophiles instead of their usual trend to react as S-nucleophiles. In addition several unprecedented chemical modifications on the tetrazolothione moiety have been carried out leading to the enantioselective preparation of different compounds incorporating nitrogen-containing functionalities such as oxazinimines, formamidines, ureas and isoureas.

[Structure: see text] The organocatalytic asymmetric Michael addition of aldehydes to beta-nitroacroleine dimethyl acetal has been studied in detail. The reaction took place with excellent yields and high stereoselectivities when a chiral beta-amino alcohol such as L-prolinol was employed as the catalyst, leaving a formation of highly functionalized enantioenriched compounds containing two differentiated formyl groups together with a nitro moiety.

Alpha,beta-unsaturated amides derived from the chiral amino alcohol (S,S)-(+)-pseudoephedrine undergo a very clean and diastereoselective tandem conjugate addition/alpha-alkylation reaction. Excellent results have been achieved using a wide range of differently substituted conjugate acceptors, organolithium reagents, and alkyl halides. The chiral auxiliary could be easily removed from the obtained adducts by reduction, furnishing chiral nonracemic alpha,beta-branched alcohols in a very easy and efficient way. [reaction: see text]

Racemic 5-acyloxydihydropyranones react with enolizable α,β-unsaturated aldehydes in the presence of a chiral secondary amine catalyst furnishing a wide range of differently substituted tetrahydro-1H-isochromanes with excellent results. The reaction relies on the activation of the enal by the catalyst through the formation of a dienamine intermediate, which undergoes a Diels–Alder/elimination cascade reaction. Moreover, the overall transformation also results in a highly efficient dynamic kinetic resolution process, furnishing the final adducts in high yields and excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities.

[reaction: see text] The aldol reaction of acetamide enolates with protected chiral alpha-amino-beta-hydroxy aldehyde 1 (Garner's aldehyde) has been performed in a stereocontrolled way under double stereodifferentiation conditions using pseudoephedrine as the additional chiral information source attached to the enolate reagent. In addition, the obtained adduct has been transformed into other valuable chiral building blocks such as gamma-amino-beta,delta-dihydroxy acids, esters, and ketones.