Chiral Nickel(II) Complex Catalyzed Enantioselective Doyle–Kirmse Reaction of α‑Diazo Pyrazoleamides

Although high enantioselectivity of [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of sulfonium ylides (Doyle–Kirmse reaction) has proven surprisingly elusive using classic chiral Rh­(II) and Cu­(I) catalysts, in principle it is due to the difficulty in fine discrimination of the heterotopic lone pairs of sulfur and chirality inversion at sulfur of sulfonium ylides. Here, we show that the synergistic merger of new α-diazo pyrazoleamides and a chiral N,N′-dioxide-nickel­(II) complex catalyst enables a highly enantioselective Doyle–Kirmse reaction. The pyrazoleamide substituent serves as both an activating and a directing group for the ready formation of a metal-carbene- and Lewis-acid-bonded ylide intermediate in the assistance of a dual-tasking nickel­(II) complex. An alternative chiral Lewis-acid-bonded ylide pathway greatly improves the product enantiopurity even for the reaction of a symmetric diallylsulfane. The majority of transformations over a series of aryl- or vinyl-substituted α-diazo pyrazoleamindes and sulfides proceed rapidly (within 5–20 min in most cases) with excellent results (up to 99% yield and 96% ee), providing a breakthrough in enantioselective Doyle–Kirmse reaction.