6.17 C–O Bond Formation: Acylation of meso Diols

Abstract

Acylative desymmetrization of meso diols has attracted significant attention since it is useful for preparing optically active functionalized molecules in a single manipulation. Herein, recent aspects of organocatalytic asymmetric acylation of meso diols are described. Chiral organocatalysts, including chiral phosphines, 4-dimethylaminopyradine (DMAP) derivatives, imidazole derivatives, N-heterocyclic carbene derivatives, tertiary amines, and amidine derivatives for acylative asymmetric desymmetrization of meso diols, are described. Typical examples of enzymatic asymmetric desymmetrization are also included.