Enantioselective Organocatalytic Sulfenylation of β‑Naphthols

An enantioselective
sulfenylation of β-naphthols has been
developed for the first time using a newly synthesized cinchona-derived
thiourea as the catalyst and N-(arylthio) succinimide
(or phthalimide) as an electrophilic sulfur source. Various enantioenriched
naphthalenones with an S-containing all-substituted stereocenter were
prepared via a dearomatization strategy under mild reaction conditions.