Trapping of oxonium ylide with isatins: efficient and stereoselective construction of adjacent quaternary carbon centers.

The 3-substituted 3-hydroxyindolin-2-ones with adjacent quaternary stereocenters were constructed in a single step via an efficient and stereoselective trapping of oxonium ylide with isatins. This reaction proceeds well in supercritical CO2 and is an example of the ability to use green approaches to efficiently construct polyfunctional molecules.