High Performance of Rh(Phebox) Catalysts in Asymmetric Reductive Aldol Reaction: High Anti-Selectivity.

The article informs that reductive aldol reaction (RA) of unsaturated esters or enones with aldehydes promoted by a catalytic amount of certain transition-metal complexes and stoichiometric hydrosilanes is one of the most promising aldol reaction alternatives, offering an advantage of in situ generation of enolates as nucleophilic condensation counterparts. An impressive extension has been demonstrated with chiral phosphine-rhodium or nitrogen-based ligand-iridium catalysts attaining asymmetric induction accompanied with syn-diastereoselectivity.