A chiral bicyclic skeleton-tethered bipyridine–Zn(OTf)<sub>2</sub> complex as a Lewis acid: enantioselective Friedel–Crafts alkylation of indoles with nitroalkenes
enantioselective Friedel–Craftsalkylation of indoles with trans-β-nitroarylalkenes in an enantioselective manner at elevated temperature. Indoles reacted smoothly with β-nitroarylalkenes to generate the corresponding 3-(2-nitroalkyl)indoles in good to excellent yields (up to 94%) with moderate to excellent enantioselectivities (up to 91%). The stereochemical outcome of the product fromindole and trans-β-nitrostyrene