Atroposelective organocatalytic nucleophilic aromatic substitution for C–O bond construction (opens in new tab)

The development of catalytic asymmetric strategies for directly constructing axially chiral diaryl ethers presents a substantial challenge owing to the inherent flexibility of the C–O bond and sterically congested substitution patterns that typically suppress both reactivity and enantioselectivity. Here we report an organocatalytic C–O bond-forming reaction that enables the facile synthesis of these chiral scaffolds. Employing a peptide-mimic phosphonium salt catalyst, this method exhibits br...