ChemInform Abstract: Catalytic Enantioselective Reformatsky Reactions

The Reformatsky reaction is a venerable named reaction that was introduced more than 120 years ago. Diastereoselective variants based on the use of chiral auxiliary and enantioselective protocols, based on the employment of stoichiometric amount of chiral lig- ands, have been successfully applied in organic synthesis during the years. However, a facile and general catalytic enantioselective variant was still a difficult task. Recently, we have es- tablished a new general and straightforward methodology for catalytic enantioselective Reformatsky reaction based on different concepts. In this paper, we present our general find- ing in catalytic enantioselective Reformatsky reaction of ketones, imines, and aldehydes. Our simple methodologies could become benchmark reactions for testing new synthesized chiral ligands for asymmetric transformations.