Catalytic Asymmetric Addition of Ethoxyvinyl­-zinc to Aldehydes: Two-Carbon Homologation

Significance

A novel catalytic non-aldol approach to β-hydroxyaldehydes overcomes many problems usually appearing during the synthesis of such systems: need for very low temperatures for asymmetric allylation or a difficult to perform asymmetric acetate aldol. This reaction requires only low loading of the chiral catalyst and is operationally simple to run.