Chiral alkoxy-imidazolinium salts are easily available via a five-step procedure starting from β-aminoalcohols. This new family of alkoxy-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) precursors is shown to be highly active in the enantioselective copper-catalysed conjugateaddition to cyclic enones. Complete conversion with lowcatalystloading and good enantiomeric excesses up to 93% were obtained at room temperature
A new family of chiral alkoxy-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands has been designed for the enantioselective copper-catalyzed conjugate addition of dialkylzincs to enones. These new bidentate NHC ligands were synthesized in high overall yields using a five-step procedure starting from commercially available beta-aminoalcohols. Influence of the temperature, base, solvent and copper source were studied in order to optimize the stereoselectivity of the addition. High reactivity and excellent enantioselectivity were obtained at ambient temperature with a range of cyclic enones and dialkylzinc. Addition to acyclic enones has also been studied. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.