Chiral alcohols are among the most widely applied in fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Herein, the Ru-monophosphine catalyst formed in situ was found to promote an enantioselective addition of aliphatic aldehydes with arylboronic acids, delivering the chiral alcohols in excellent yields and enantioselectivities and exhibiting a broad scope of aliphatic aldehydes and arylboronic acids. The enantioselectivities are highly dependent on the monophosphorous ligands. The utility of this asymmetric synthetic method was showcased by a large-scale transformation.
Keywords: P-chiral monophosphorous ligands; Ru-catalyzed; asymmetric addition; chiral alcohols.