The enantiomeric excess of a chiral 3-quinolylalkanol increases from 8.9 to 88.1% by a series of asymmetric autocatalytic alkylations of quinoline-3-carbaldehyde using diisopropylzinc.
A catalytic amount of a chiral zinc alkoxide of 2-methyl-1-(3-quinolyl)propan-1-ol catalyses the enantioselective alkylation of quinoline-3-carbaldehyde by diisopropylzinc to afford 2-methyl-1-(3-quinolyl)propan-1-ol with the same configuration in high ee (up to 94%).