Synthesis of Lactams via a Chiral Phosphoric Acid-Catalyzed Aniline Cyclization

The enantioenriched lactams disclosed in this work are synthesized concisely in four steps. In the penultimate reaction, a benzylamine species complexes with a chiral phosphoric acid to produce benzo-fused delta-lactams equipped with an all-carbon quaternary stereocenter. Partial and full reductions were carried out on the ester and amide moieties, and a Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling expanded the molecule from the aromatic ring. Finally, our method was successful at a >1 g scale, indicating that the method has important practical use.