Catalyzed asymmetric aryl transfer reactions to aldehydes with boronic acids as aryl source

Chiral diaryl methanols are important intermediates for the synthesis of biologically active compounds. Here, we describe a flexible method for their catalyzed asymmetric synthesis from readily available starting materials. Noteworthy is the fact that with a single catalyst both enantiomers of the product are accessible simply by choosing the appropriate combination of aryl boronic acid or aldehyde as aryl donor and acceptor, respectively. The catalysis with a planar-chiral ferrocene is easy to perform and yields a broad range of products with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 98% ee).