Synergistic Catalysis: Highly Enantioselective Acetyl Aza-arene Addition to Enals.

A novel catalytic enantioselective methodology based on synergistic catalysis for the synthesis of chiral 2-acyl pyridines and pyrazines is reported. The strategy involves the metal-Lewis acid activation of acetyl aza-arenes and the secondary-amine activation of enals. The proposed mechanism is supported by DFT calculations.