Molybdenum-catalyzed and tungsten-catalyzed enantioselective allylic substitutions

Abstract

Asymmetric allylic substitutions catalyzed by molybdenum and tungsten complexes provide branched chiral products from unsymmetrically substituted allylic reagents. Highly selective chiral ligands are available for both types of reactions, but for the tungsten-catalyzed substitutions, enantioselective reactions are only possible starting from achiral linear allylic substrates. A variety of stabilized carbanions can be used as nucleophiles. The molybdenum-catalyzed reaction has been applied to the synthesis of several biologically active compounds. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.