A new chiral C<sub>1</sub>-symmetric NHC-catalyzed addition to α-aryl substituted α,β-disubstituted enals: enantioselective synthesis of fully functionalized dihydropyranones
enantioselective NHC-catalyzed activation of alpha-aryl substituted alpha,beta-disubstituted unsaturated aldehyde is successfully developed via a highly-active acyl azolium intermediate. The new C1-symmetric biaryl-saturated imidazolium exhibits a superior ability to enable previously unavailable transformation, and the corresponding fullyfunctionalized dihydropyranones are efficiently synthesized in high