CHAPTER 7: Synthesis of Chiral Acyclic Compounds Through Enantioselective Cobalt-catalysed Michael and (Nitro)-Aldol Reactions

The seventh chapter of the book collects together enantioselective cobalt-catalysed Michael additions and (nitro)-aldol reactions affording chiral acyclic compounds. The first section of the chapter is dedicated to Michael additions, showing that a number of highly efficient asymmetric additions of very different nucleophiles to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and derivatives have been achieved using a range of chiral ligands, such as Pybox, biphosphine and N,N′-dioxide ligands, among others, as well as many Michael additions of various nucleophiles to nitroalkenes catalysed by a variety of chiral N,N′-dioxide, salen, oxazoline, and Werner cobalt complexes, among others. The second section of the chapter collects together Henry reactions promoted by a wide variety of salen cobalt complexes, while much rarer examples of simple aldol reactions have been described so far.