Organocatalyzed Asymmetric α-Thiocyanation of Oxindoles: Synthesis of Chiral Tertiary 3-Thiocyanatoxindoles.

An enantioselective thiocyanation of oxindoles has been developed for the first time using a bifunctional cinchona-derived organo-catalyst and N-thiocyanatophthalimide as the electrophilic thiocyanation source in the presence of 2-naphthol as the additive. Various enantioenriched 3,3'-disubstituted oxindoles with SCN-containing quaternary carbon stereocenters were synthesized under mild conditions in high yields (up to 99%) and good enantioselectivities (up to 6:94 er).

N-Thiocyanato-dibenzenesulfonimide: a new electrophilic thiocyanating reagent with enhanced reactivity.

A novel electrophilic thiocyanating reagent, N-thiocyanato-dibenzenesulfonimide, was prepared and exhibited enhanced electrophilicity with a wide scope of substrates. Thus, it reacted with activated aromatics such as phenols, indoles, anilines and anisoles without a catalyst giving the corresponding thicyanate derivatives in high yields, while TfOH for unactivated arenes and hetero aromatics and Zn(OTf)2 for ketones was used as the catalyst, respectively. It is noteworthy that internal alkenes and styrenes were bifunctionalized giving 1,2-amino thiocyanates in high yields.