Chiral Pyridinium Phosphoramide as a Dual Brønsted Acid Catalyst for Enantioselective Diels–Alder Reaction

Chiral pyridinium phosphoramide 1·HX was designed to be a new class of chiral Brønsted acid catalyst in which both the pyridinium proton and the adjacent imide-like proton activated by the electron-withdrawing pyridinium moiety could work cooperatively as strong dual proton donors. The potential of 1·HX was shown in the enantioselective Diels–Alder reactions of 1-amino dienes with various dienophiles including N-unsubstituted maleimide, which has yet to be successfully used in an asymmetric Diels–Alder reaction.