A catalytic methodology for the enantioselective addition of alkylzirconium reagents to aliphatic aldehydes is reported here. The versatile and readily accessible chiral Ph-BINMOL ligand, in the presence of Ti(OiPr)4 and a zinc salt, facilitates the reaction, which proceeds under mild conditions and is compatible with functionalized nucleophiles. The alkylzirconium reagents are conveniently generated in situ by hydrozirconation of alkenes with the Schwartz reagent. This work is a continuation of our previous work on aromatic aldehydes.
Keywords: Schwartz reagent; aliphatic aldehydes; alkenes; enantioselective catalysis; titanium-diol complex.