Enantioselective Addition of Ketonitriles to Aldehydes Using A Titanium Complex

Significance

Although chiral enantiomerically pure O-acylated cyanohydrins are accessible through several indirect methods, reported here is by far the most superior one-pot procedure. The authors have demonstrated the capability of dual activation of reacting species via a Lewis acid-Lewis base catalytic system and successfully employed this system to obtain highly enantioenriched cyanohydrins. A high level of enantioselectivity is obtained with both aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes. In addition, various ketonitriles provide products with high ee values.