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Published on: July 6, 2012
Highly enantioselective hydrosilylation of aromatic alkenes
Jakob F Jensen1, Bo Y Svendsen, Thomas V la Cour
1Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, Building 201, DK-2800 Kgs Lyngby, Denmark.
Abstract:
Currently, the most effective and economic way to convert an alkene into an optically active alcohol is the two-step sequence: hydrosilylation/oxidation. Much work has been devoted to elucidating effective catalysts for this process, but hitherto only one effective and highly stereoselective process has been available. Herein we present a novel catalytic system for the asymmetric hydrosilylation of aromatic alkenes, giving the products in high yields and with the highest enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee) ever observed for this reaction. The reaction works efficiently for a variety of substituted aromatic alkenes, giving access after Tamao oxidation to almost optically pure benzylic alcohols in high yields.
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