A systematic study of chiral homoprolinols and their derivatives in the catalysis of enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes

Abstract

Homoprolinol analogs, a class of optically active γ-amino alcohols, were examined systematically in the enantioselective addition reactions of diethylzinc to aldehydes. By comparison of the results catalyzed by these γ-amino alcohols with those by the β-amino alcohols based on pyrrolidine architecture reported in the literature references, we have observed that the γ-amino alcohols are superior to the corresponding β-amino alcohols when the nitrogen and the oxygen are unsubstituted. Among the homoprolinols we tested, 2b gave the best results (45-88% yields, 44-81% ee) in the addition reactions. To the best of our knowledge, 2b has been noticed as one of the most efficient γ-amino alcohol catalysts based on pyrrolidine framework. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.