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The synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles, including natural alkaloids and other compounds presenting different types of biological activities have proved to be successful employing chiral sulfinyl imines derived from tert-butanesulfinamide. These imines are versatile chiral auxiliaries and have been extensively used as eletrophiles in a wide range of reactions. The electron-withdrawing sulfinyl group facilitates the nucleophilic addition of organometallic compounds to the iminic carbon with high diastereoisomeric excess and the free amines obtained after an easy removal of the tert-butanesulfinyl group can be transformed into enantioenriched nitrogen-containing heterocycles. The goal of this review is to the highlight enantioselective syntheses of heterocycles involving the use of chiral N-tert-butanesulfinyl imines as reaction intermediates, including the synthesis of several natural products. The synthesis of nitrogen-containing heterocycles in which the nitrogen atom is not provided by the chiral imine will not be considered in this review. The sections are organized according to the size of the heterocycles. The present work will comprehensively cover the most pertinent contributions to this research area from 2012 to 2020. We regret in advance that some contributions are excluded in order to maintain a concise format. We thank the continuous financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO; project CTQ2014-53695-P, CTQ2014-51912-REDC, CTQ2016-81797-REDC, CTQ2017-85093-P), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (RED2018-102387-T, PID2019-107268GB-100), FEDER, the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/017), and the University of Alicante (VIGROB-068). We are also grateful for the financial support from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).

The addition of 2-bromobenzylmagnesium bromide to chiral N-tert-butanesulfinyl imines derived from tetralone-type ketones proceeds with high levels of diastereocontrol. The resulting sulfinamide derivatives were transformed into dibenzoazaspiro compounds after a palladium-catalyzed intramolecular N-arylation. DFT calculations have been performed to rationalize the stereochemical course of the reaction. Similar results have been obtained considering either diethyl ether or toluene as a solvent, in both cases in an excellent agreement with experimental findings. NCI topological calculations have also been used to evidence crucial noncovalent interactions. In addition, the azaspiro compounds reduced the viability of chronic myeloid leukemia cells in the micromolar range. Notably, both the halogen-substituted (R)- and (S)-8g and -8h as well as (R)-8j were at least two times more effective on a multidrug-resistant derivative than on the parental cell line, exerting a collateral sensitivity effect. We acknowledge the continued financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO; project CTQ2014-53695-P, CTQ2014-51912-REDC, CTQ2016-81797-REDC, CTQ2016-76155-R, CTQ2017-85093-P), FEDER, the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/017), and the University of Alicante. We thankfully acknowledge the resources from the supercomputers “Memento” and “Cierzo” and technical expertise and assistance provided by BIFI-ZCAM (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain). We also thank Prof. Vivian M. Rumjanek for providing FEPS cells and Prof. Adriano D. Andricopulo for the preliminary cytotoxicity screening. This study was also financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.

11a-N-tosyl-5-carbapterocarpans (5a–c and 6a–c), 9-N-tosyl-4,4a,9,9a-tetrahydro-3H-carbazole (7), 11a-N-tosyl-5-carbapterocarpen (8) analogues of LQB-223 (4a), were synthesized through palladium catalyzed azaarylation of substituted dihydronaphtalenes (14a–c) and cyclohexadiene (15), respectively, with N-tosyl-o-iodoaniline (11). In order to understand the role of the N-tosyl moiety for the pharmacological activity, the azacarbapterocarpen (9) was also synthesized by Fischer indol reaction. The structural requirements at the A and D-rings for the antineoplastic activity toward human leukemias and breast cancer cells were evaluated as well. Substitutions on the A-ring of 4a and analogues alter the effect on different breast cancer subtypes. On the other hand, A-ring is not essential for antileukemic activity since compound 7, which does not contain the A-ring, showed efficacy with high selectivity indices for drug-resistant leukemias. On the other hand, substitutions on the D-ring of 4a for fluorine or iodine did not improve the antileukemic activity. In silico studies concerning Lipinskis rule of five, ADMET properties and drug scores of those compounds were performed, indicating good physicochemical properties for all compounds, in special for compound 7.

11a-N-Arylsulfonyl-5-carbapterocarpans (tetrahydro-5H-benzo[a]carbazoles) were synthesized by palladium-catalyzed azaarylation of dihydronaphthalenes with o-iodo-N-(arylsulfonyl)anilines in poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-400). Better chemical yields (moderate to good) and shorter reaction times (a few minutes at 130–170 °C) were observed in PEG-400 compared with the corresponding reactions in acetone­.

11a-N-Arylsulfonyl-5-carbapterocarpans (tetrahydro-5H-benzo[a]carbazoles) were synthesized by palladium-catalyzed azaarylation of dihydronaphthalenes with o-iodo-N-(arylsulfonyl)anilines in poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-400). Better chemical yields (moderate to good) and shorter reaction times (a few minutes at 130–170 °C) were observed in PEG-400 compared with the corresponding reactions in acetone­.