Enantioselective Addition of Diethylzinc to Aromatic Aldehydes Using Novel Thiophene-Based Chiral Ligands

Abstract

Chiral norephedrine-derived β-amino alcohols with a thiophene moiety were synthesized from thiophene carbaldehydes (methyl- or ethyl-substituted) and chiral amino alcohols, such as both enantiomers of norephedrine and 2-aminopropanol. The synthesized ligands were applied to the catalytic asymmetric addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes to obtain optically active alcohols with a high conversion (92%) and excellent enantioselectivities (ee up to 99%). The highest enantioselectivity (ee 99%) was obtained with p-trifluorobenzaldehyde as the substrate containing the strongly electron-acceptor CF3 group.