The development of chiral enolates which participate in highly stereoregulated aldol condensations has been a challenging undertaking.2 The control of both reaction diastereoselection (Et + E2 vs. Tj + T2) and enantioselection (Ei vs. E2 or Tj vs. T2)

The mild reducing agent tetramethylammonium triacetoxyborohydride reduces acyclic ß-hydroxy ketones to their corresponding anti diols with high diastereoselectivity. a-Alkyl substitution does not significantly affect the stereoselectivity of these reductions. In all cases examined, good to excellent yields of diastereomerically homogeneous diols were obtained. The mechanism of these reductions involves an acid-promoted ligand exchange of acetate for substrate alcohol by the

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A bis(oxazoline) (box) copper(II) complex and its hydrated counterpart (1 and 2) function as enantioselective Lewis acid catalysts for carbocyclic and hetero Diels-Alder, aldol, Michael, ene, and amination reactions with substrates capable of chelation through six- and five-membered rings. X-ray crystallography of the chiral complexes reveals a propensity for the formation of distorted square planar or square pyramidal geometries. The sense of asymmetric induction is identical for all the processes catalyzed by [Cu((S,S)-t-Bu-box)](X)(2) complexes 1 and 2 (X = OTf and SbF) resulting from the intervention of a distorted square planar catalyst-substrate binary complex. These catalyzed processes exhibit excellent temperature-selectivity profiles. Reactions catalyzed by [Cu(S,S-Ph-pybox)](SbF(6))(2) and their derived chelation complexes are also discussed.