Highly Stereoselective Synthesis of α-Alkyl-α-Hydroxycarboxylic Acid Derivatives Catalyzed by a Dinuclear Zinc Complex

摘要

Direct, highly diastereo-and enantioselective catalytic construction of all-substituted carbon stereocenters adjacent to carbonyl groups through addition of α-disubstituted carbonyl compounds to unsaturated bonds is still a challenging feat, and successful examples are limited to the use of nucleophiles that are singly activated by a mesomeric electron-withdrawing group. The dinuclear zinc-ProPhenol complex has shown remarkable efficiency and stereoselectivities in carbon-carbon bond-forming processes that involve enolates, such as aldol reactions Mannich-type reactions and nitro-Michael reactions.