Chiral helicenes are widely found in materials science, self-assembly, and asymmetric catalysis, yet their asymmetric construction remains highly challenging. Herein, we report an unprecedented asymmetric synthesis of helical quinones via an enantioselective amine-catalyzed 4+2 annulation. This method features a broad substrate scope, excellent functional group tolerance, and moderate to good yields with high enantioselectivities, providing a new strategy for the construction of chiral helicenes.
Ji et al. (Wed,) studied this question.