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Updated: Jan 10, 2026

Retropinacol/Cross-pinacol Coupling Reactions - A Catalytic Access to 1,2-Unsymmetrical Diols
Published on: April 4, 2014
Cobalt-Catalyzed Asymmetric 1,4-Reduction of α,β-Unsaturated Nitriles with HBpin
Li Ma1, Zhaolin Wang1, Chenggong Zheng2
1College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, China.
Abstract:
A series of novel AAO ligands were synthesized and employed in the cobalt-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-reduction of α,β-unsaturated nitriles with HBpin, affording β-stereogenic alkyl nitriles with high enantioselectivities. This protocol can be scaled to gram quantities with a low catalyst loading (0.5 mol %) and demonstrates broad synthetic utility, as evidenced by the efficient transformation of the enantioenriched products into valuable chiral building blocks, including aldehydes, carboxylic acids, amides, and ketones.
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