Abstract
Asymmetric cyanosilylation serves as an important tool to convert easily available
ketones into cyanohydrins of diverse reactivity. Whereas a large library of organocatalysts
and transition-metal catalysts have been identified for monoketones, cyanosilylation
of more-complex substrates, particularly those giving enantioenriched vicinal stereocenters,
is underexplored in comparison. Here, a pair of recently published kinetic resolution
and desymmetrization methods are highlighted for their success in constructing complex
vicinal stereocenters by cyanosilylation using tailored aluminum and magnesium catalysts,
respectively.
1 Introduction
2 Kinetic Resolution of α-Branched Ketones
3 Desymmetrization of 1,3-Diketones
4 Conclusion
Key words
cyanosilylation - asymmetric catalysis - vicinal stereocenters - quaternary stereocenters
- kinetic resolution - desymmetrization