Enantioselective Catalytic Addition of Phenylacetylene to Aromatic Ketones

Significance

Catalytic asymmetric propargyl­ation of carbonyl compounds has received much attention recently due to the high importance of the resulting chiral propargylic alcohols as synthetic intermediates. Ketones are usually not easy substrates for this reaction, therefore, the development of new methods for their enantioselective propargylation is a challenging task. The authors developed here a new procedure, affording a highly enantioselective addition of phenylacetylene to acetophenones even by using very low amounts of catalyst. The chiral ligand can be prepared from chiral phenylglycine in three steps.