Novel Self-Assembled Titanium Catalyst for Asymmetric Cyanoethoxycarbonylation

Significance

The asymmetric cyanation of carbonyl compounds is an important reaction for the synthesis of versatile intermediates in organic synthesis. The development of a new efficient self-assembled titanium catalyst system for the asymmetric cyanoethoxycarbonylation of aldehydes is reported. Each component of the catalyst is commercially available or easily prepared. The corresponding products are obtained under mild conditions in moderate to good yields with good enantioselectivities (up to 99% yield and up to 94% ee). For previous work of this group with a tricomponent titanium catalyst using tertiary amines and BINOL derivatives as ligands, see: J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 5732.