New chiral diselenides were prepared in a few steps from readily available starting materials. The seleniumelectrophiles generated from these diselenides were used for the efficient stereoselective inter- and intramolecular functionalization of alkenes. The substitution pattern influences the stereoselectivities and protection of the hydroxy moiety in the chiral side chain led to increased selectivities
The simple substitution of an aryl proton by a methoxy substituent improves the selectivity of the stereoselective selenenylation reaction dramatically, leading to addition products with diastereomeric ratios up to 50:1 in the methoxyselenenylation reaction of styrene.