In this work, carboxylic acids, which are typically regarded as poor nucleophiles, are demonstrated to be competent reagents to promote the ring-opening of formylcyclopropanes after activation of the latter through iminium ion formation. Under optimized reaction conditions, a variety of γ-acyloxy-substituted aldehydes can be obtained in high yields and enantioselectivities through the desymmetrization of substituted meso-formylcyclopropanes in the presence of a chiral secondary amine as catalyst.
Keywords: Asymmetric catalysis; Carboxylic acids; Cyclopropanes; Organocatalysis; Strained molecules.
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