Cu-Catalyzed Asymmetric Synthesis of Chiral Allylic Esters

Significance

The authors reported herein an elegant catalytic method for the enantioselective preparation of allylic esters. The starting aroyloxyallylic bromides are readily available from acrolein or its homologues and benzoyl bromides. This method furnishes various chiral allylic esters with a terminal double bond in high yields and excellent enantioselectivities, using as little as 0.05 mol% of the chiral phosphorus ligand. The products can be simply converted, for instance, by the metathesis reaction, into a broad variety of useful enantiopure intermediates.