A unique method for highly enantioselective synthesis of N–C axially chiral compounds

In this issue of Chem, Zhou and co-workers report a new strategy for synthesizing optically active N–C axially chiral compounds. In the presence of a chiral norbornene-ester-Pd catalyst, the Catellani reaction of iodobenzene derivatives with N-(2-substituted-phenyl)-2-bromobenzamides proceeds in a highly enantioselective manner to give N–C axially chiral N-aryl-phenanthridinone derivatives.