Palladium(II)-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrophosphination of Enones

Significance

Chiral phosphines play an important role in organic and organometallic chemistry; the methods of their synthesis generally involve resolution or the use of chiral auxiliaries. However, very few catalytic asymmetric hydrophosphination approaches have been reported. In this paper the authors describe the preparation of chiral tertiary phosphines from aromatic enones via this methodology; a range of products was obtained with 33-86% ee. Recrystallization allowed an increase of enantiomeric purity to 85-99% ee.