Enantioselective synthesis of chiral oxazolines from unactivated ketones and isocyanoacetate esters by synergistic silver/organocatalysis

A multicatalytic approach that combines a bifunctional Bronsted base-squaramide organocatalyst and Ag+ as Lewis acid has been applied in the reaction of unactivated ketones with tert-butyl isocyanoacetate to give chiral oxazolines bearing a quaternary stereocenter. The formal [3+2] cycloaddition provided high yields of the corresponding cis-oxazolines with good diastereoselectivity and excellent enantioselectivity, being applied to aryl-alkyl and alkyl-alkyl ketones.