Synthesis and Organocatalytic Asymmetric Nitro-aldol Initiated Cascade Reactions of 2-Acylbenzonitriles Leading to 3,3-Disubstituted Isoindolinones

In this work, we investigated two strategies for the synthesis of the challenging ketones 2-acylbenzonitriles and we report their use as electrophiles in asymmetric organocatalytic cascade reactions with nitromethane. Promising results were obtained in the presence of chiral bifunctional ammonium salts under phase transfer conditions, which led to novel 3,3-disubstituted isoindolinones in quantitative yields and moderate enantioselectivity.