Lewis Acid Assisted Electrophilic Fluorine-Catalyzed Pinacol Rearrangement of Hydrobenzoin Substrates: One-Pot Synthesis of (±)-Latifine and (±)-Cherylline

A microwave-irradiated solvent-free pinacol rearrangement of hydrobenzoin substrates catalyzed by a combination of N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide and FeCl3·6H2O was developed. Its selectivity was first investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Then the functional group tolerance was examined by synthesizing a series of substrates designed based on the insight provided by the DFT calculations. The application of the methodology was demonstrated by the efficient one-pot synthesis of (±)-latifine and (±)-cherylline, both are 4-aryltetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids isolated from Amaryllidacecae plants.