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Abstract Cyclopentene rings possessing a chiral quaternary center are important structural motifs found in various natural products. In this work, we disclose expedient and efficient access to this class of synthetically valuable structuresviahighly enantioselective desymmetrization of prochiral propargylic alcohols. The efficient chirality induction in this asymmetric gold catalysis is achievedviatwo‐point bindings between a gold catalyst featuring a bifunctional phosphine ligand and the substrate homopropargylic alcohol moiety—an H‐bonding interaction between the substrate HO group and a ligand phosphine oxide moiety and the gold‐alkyne complexation. The propargylic alcohol substrates can be prepared readilyviapropargylation of enoate and ketone precursors. In addition to monocyclic cyclopentenes, spirocyclic and bicyclic ones are formed with additional neighboring chiral centers of flexible stereochemistry in addition to the quaternary center. This work represents rare gold‐catalyzed highly enantioselective cycloisomerization of 1,5‐enynes. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations support the chirality induction model and suggest that the rate acceleration enabled by the bifunctional ligand can be attributed to a facilitated protodeauration step at the end of the catalysis. 

Abstract A gold(I)‐catalyzed enantioselective dearomatization is achieved via metal‐chiral ligand cooperation. A new and divergent synthesis of chiral bifunctional binaphthyl‐2‐ylphosphines is developed to allow rapid access to these ligands, which in turn facilitate the application of this chemistry to a broad substrate scope including 1‐naphthols, 2‐naphthols, and phenols. Enantiomeric excesses up to 98 % are achieved via selective acceleration of one enantiomer formation enabled by hydrogen bonding between substrate and ligand remote basic group. DFT calculations lend support to the cooperative catalysis and substantiate the reaction stereochemical outcomes.