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We report a simple and effective nickel-based catalytic system, NiCl2·6H2O/tBuOK, for the electrophilically activated hydrosilylation of terminal alkenes with primary silanes. This protocol provides excellent performance under mild reaction conditions: exclusive anti-Markovnikov selectivity, broad functional group tolerance (36 examples), and good scalability (TON = 5500). However, the secondary and tertiary silanes are not suitable. Mechanistic studies revealed that this homogeneous catalytic hydrosilylation includes an electrophilically activated Si-H bond process without the generation of nickel hydrides.

An alkoxide-catalyzed hydrosilylation of cyclic imides to isoquinolines was realized via tandem reduction and rearrangement. Using TMSOK as the catalyst and (EtO)2MeSiH as the reductant, a series of cyclic imides containing different functional groups were reduced to the corresponding 3-aryl isoquinolines in moderate to good yields. The scenario of the reaction pathway was supposed to involve the reduction of imides to ω-hydroxylactams, which underwent rearrangement in the presence of a base catalyst, and then the carbonyl reduction, followed by siloxy elimination.

An alkoxide-catalyzed reduction of benzolactams to isoindoles with silanes was realized. With t-BuOK as the catalyst and Ph2SiH2 as the reductant, a series of benzolactams containing different functional groups were reduced to the corresponding isoindoles, which could be captured by N-phenyl maleimide to form Diels–Alder products in moderate to good yields. Deuterium labeling studies and the hydrosilylation of benzolactam in DMF indicated that the deprotonation of benzolactams took place at C3 potion during the reduction.

The first copper-catalyzed enantioselective propargylation of trialkyl methantricarboxylate with propargylic alcohol derivatives was developed. The tricarboxylate unit in the obtained adducts could be easily transformed into a malonate moiety by treating with in situ generated NaOEt in excellent yield without racemization.

A decarboxylative formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction between ethynyl benzoxazinanones and 5-substituted 2-silyloxyfurans catalyzed by chiral Cu–Pybox complex is described. This method allows the formation of intriguing tetrahydroquinolines fused with a butyrolactone moiety featuring three contiguous chiral centers in high yields with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities in most cases. The utility of this method was exemplified by the removal of the N-protecting groups and derivatization on the terminal alkyne functionality of the cyclization products.

An expedient diastereoselective synthesis of highly functionalized indolo[2,3-α]quinolizidines adopting a cis H2/H12b geometry has been realized by a Pictet-Spengler/lactamization cascade sequence. The absolute stereochemistry at C2, C3, and C12b was governed by the originally created chirality of the Michael adduct through organocatalyzed conjugate addition of dialkyl malonates to α,β-unsaturated aldehydes.

An expedient enantioselective synthesis of highly substituted hydrocarbazoles has been realized by an organocatalyzed formal [3 + 3] cycloaddition between acrolein and 2,3-disubstituted indoles. Tricyclic hydrocarbazoles were obtained from a broad range of 2,3-disubstituted indoles and acrolein in good to excellent yields and excellent enantioselectivites.