A chiral phosphoric acid catalyzed regio- and enantioselective reaction between 1-acylamino-3-arylprop-2-yn-1-ols and isoxazol-5-ones has been developed for the first time. With the established protocol, N -alkylation of isoxazol-5-ones was achieved, affording enantioenriched N , N -acetals in 74-99% yield with 72-88% ee.

Cephalotaxus diterpenoids represent a class of attractive natural products with diverse chemical structures and valuable biological activities. Construction of the tetracyclic core skeleton plays an important role in synthesis of these compounds. We report here the development of diastereoselective Pauson-Khand reactions as an effective strategy to the core structure, which enabled the total synthesis

Chemists love extremes and superlatives! We will thus give special credits to the element that comes up with (1) the smallest atomic radii of all non-hydrogen and non-noble-gas elements, (2) the largest electronegativity of all open-shell atoms (4.1 in the Allred–Rochow scale), and (3) the highest reduction potential of all elements (2.87 V). (1,2) We are speaking, of course, of fluorine, an element