Asymmetric Synthesis of Chiral Dihydrothiopyrans via an Organocatalytic Enantioselective Formal Thio [3 + 3] Cycloaddition Reaction with Binucleophilic Bisketone Thioethers

An unprecedented organocatalytic highly enantioselective approach to a 3,4-dihydro-2H-thiopyran scaffold with two contiguous stereogenic centers has been implemented through a formal thio [3 + 3] cycloaddition process involving a Michael-aldol condensation cascade sequence. Notably, a new class of binucleophilic bisketone thioethers is designed for the process. Furthermore, the fine-tuning of their reactivity enables the cascade process to proceed with highly regioselectively.