Enantioselective synthesis of planar-chiral ferrocene-fused 4-pyridones and their application in construction of pyridine-based organocatalyst library.

A couple of planar-chiral ferrocene-fused 4-pyridone derivatives 2a and 2b were synthesized in enantiomerically pure form by scalable asymmetric transformations. Pyridones 2 are versatile precursors to various ferrocene-fused pyridine derivatives, which are useful nucleophilic asymmetric organocatalysts.