Highly Enantioselective Formation of α‐Allyl‐α‐Arylcyclopentanones via Pd‐Catalysed Decarboxylative Asymmetric Allylic Alkylation

A highly enantioselective Pd‐catalysed decarboxylative asymmetric allylic alkylation of cyclopentanone derived α‐aryl‐β‐keto esters employing the ( R , R )‐ANDEN‐phenyl Trost ligand has been developed. The product ( S )‐α‐allyl‐α‐arylcyclopentanones were obtained in excellent yields and enantioselectivities (up to >99.9 % ee ). This represents one of the most highly enantioselective formations of an all‐carbon quaternary stereogenic center reported to date. This reaction was demonstrated on a 4.0 mmol scale without any deterioration of enantioselectivity and was exploited as the key enantioselective transformation in an asymmetric formal synthesis of the natural product (+)‐tanikolide.