Effective Activation of the Chiral Salen/Ti(OiPr)4 Catalyst with Achiral PhenolicN-Oxides as Additives in the Enantioselective Cyanosilylation of Ketones
the asymmetric cyanosilylation of ketones. By using 10 mol % of chiral salen-titanium(IV) complex in combination with 1 mol% achiral phenolic N-oxide as an additive, aromatic, aliphatic and heterocyclic ketones have been converted into the corresponding cyanohydrin trimethylsilyl ethers in 58-96% yields with 56-82% ee. Several factors concerning the reactivity and enantioselectivity have been discussed