Nickel-Catalyzed Asymmetric Reductive Heck Cyclization of Aryl Halides to Afford Indolines.

A nickel-catalyzed asymmetric reductive Heck reaction of aryl chlorides has been developed that affords substituted indolines with high enantioselectivity. Manganese powder is used as the terminal reductant with water as a proton source. Mechanistically, it is distinct from the palladium-catalyzed process in that the nickel-carbon bond is converted into a C-H bond to release the product through protonation instead of hydride donation followed by C-H reductive elimination on Pd.