Boron Tribromide-Assisted Chiral Phosphoric Acid Catalysts for Enantioselective [2+2] Cycloaddition

BBr3 -assisted chiral phosphoric acid catalysts for enantioselective [2+2] cycloaddition were developed. The reactions of phenyl vinyl sulfide with α-substituted acroleins proceeded, and the corresponding [2+2] cycloadducts were obtained with high enantioselectivity. In particular, the [2+2] cycloadduct obtained from methacrolein is a synthetically useful optically active cyclobutane, which could be transformed to a key intermediate for (+)-frontalin, a pheromone of Asian elephants.