Synthesis of Allyl Alcohols from Aldehydes and Alkenylboronic Acids

Significance

Optically enriched allylic alcohols have garnered much attention due to their importance as synthetic intermediates. While asymmetric reduction of enones and resolution of the racemates are methods for the synthesis of these compounds, the asymmetric alkenylation of aldehydes provides an important route due to C-C bond formation with concomitant formation of the chiral center. The authors found their ferrocene (1) to be a suitable chiral catalyst (10 mol% loading) for the alkenylation reaction.