Two novel chiral rhodium complexes as catalysts for the enantioselective allylation of arylaldehydes

Abstract

Two novel chiral rhodium complexes were successfully synthesized from the reaction of a new class of bidentate nitrogen ligands with RhCl 3·3H 2O in ethanol under reflux. The crystal structure of 4a was unambiguously established by X-ray analysis. Their corresponding cationic metal complexes prepared in situ from the reaction of 4a or 4b with AgBF 4 catalyze the enantioselective allylation of arylaldehydes with allylstannane in 5–50% ee.