Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts reaction of indoles with carbonyl compounds catalyzed by bifunctional cinchona alkaloids.

In this communication, we report an efficient asymmetric Friedel-Crafts reaction that, unprecedently, is applicable to a wide range of both indoles and carbonyls. The use of a readily accessible catalyst in combination with a high enantioselectivity that is insensitive to reaction concentration, temperature, air, and moisture should allow this reaction to provide useful enantioselective access to new chiral indole derivatives. [reaction: see text]