[reaction: see text] A novel class of planar chiral electron-rich monophosphine ligands has been developed. The modular design allows a short and efficient synthesis of an array of aryl-ferrocenyl derivatives carrying the donating bis(dicyclohexyl)phosphino moiety. These new ligands have successfully been applied in the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling of activated as well as nonactivated aryl chlorides at room temperature. The asymmetric coupling of an aryl bromide and an aryl boronic acid was also tested, giving ees up to 54%.

The selectivity-determining step in enantioselective copper-catalyzed cyclopropanation with diazo compounds has been studied by experimental and computational methods. The addition of the very reactive metallacarbene intermediate in an early transition state to the substrate alkene is concerted but strongly asynchronous, with substantial cationic character on one alkene carbon in the neighborhood of the transition state. Evidence from isotope effects and Hammett studies supports the nature of the transition state. Formation of a metallacyclobutane intermediate by a [2+2] addition is kinetically disfavored. Ligand-substrate interactions influencing the enantio- and diastereoselectivity have been identified, and the preferred orientation of the alkene substrate during the addition is suggested.

[reaction: see text] Alkyl-substituted vinylcarboxylates, which normally show poor enantioselectivity in Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation with traditional chiral diphosphines, undergo highly enantioselective reactions with BINOL- and carbohydrate-based monophosphite ligands.

Currently, the most effective and economic way to convert an alkene into an optically active alcohol is the two-step sequence: hydrosilylation/oxidation. Much work has been devoted to elucidating effective catalysts for this process, but hitherto only one effective and highly stereoselective process has been available. Herein we present a novel catalytic system for the asymmetric hydrosilylation of aromatic alkenes, giving the products in high yields and with the highest enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee) ever observed for this reaction. The reaction works efficiently for a variety of substituted aromatic alkenes, giving access after Tamao oxidation to almost optically pure benzylic alcohols in high yields.

Two novel planar chiral and atropisomeric P,N and P,O aryl-ferrocenyl ligand systems have been developed. The strategy is short and involves a new synthetic approach to aryl-ferrocenyl compounds via a Suzuki cross-coupling procedure. The modular design can easily give access to variety of chiral mono- and bidentate ligands. Two simple derivatives of a novel chiral bidenate P,N ligand belonging to the MOPF family have been synthesized and tested in the enantioselective copper-catalyzed addition of diethyl zinc to an enone and a "difficult" diester. Moderate to excellent yields and enantioselectivities up to 58% were obtained using 1 mol % Cu(OTf)(2) and 1.5 mol % chiral ligand.