The copper-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to trisubstituted cyclic enones affords enantioenriched all-carbon quaternary centers with up to 96% ee. The chiral ligand is a diaminocarbene, directly generated in situ. The combination of Grignard reagent and diaminocarbene is unprecedented in conjugate addition, and the additon of the phenyl group, on such enones, cannot be done by other conjugate addition methods.
Trimethyl‐ and triethylaluminum undergo enantioselective conjugate addition to 3‐ and 2‐substituted cyclohexenones in the presence of catalytic amounts of a Cu salt and a phosphoramidite ligand L* (see scheme). Thus, chiral quaternary centers can be built with up to 96.6 % ee. Functionalized enones lead to bicyclic structures by a subsequent aldol reaction.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.