Reported herein is an asymmetric [3+2] cycloaddition reaction of azomethine ylides with β-trifluoromethyl β,β-disubstituted enones, a reaction which is enabled by a
Ming-Phos-derived copper(I) catalyst (Ming-Phos=chiral sulfinamide monophosphines, Figure
1). This method provides scalable and efficient access to the highly substituted pyrrolidines with a trifluoromethylated, all-carbon quaternary stereocenter in good yields with up to greater than 20:1 d.r. and 98 %
ee. The reaction has a broad substrate scope and tolerates a wide range of functional groups.