CHAPTER 9: Synthesis of Chiral Acyclic Compounds Through Enantioselective Cobalt-catalysed Cross-coupling Reactions

The ninth chapter of the book deals with enantioselective cobalt-catalysed cross-coupling reactions. Excellent enantioselectivities have been described in the reductive couplings of alkynes with cyclic enones and couplings of terminal alkynes, such as silylacetylenes, with oxa- and azabenzonorbornadienes using chiral biphosphine ligands. Moreover, the first enantioselective Kumada cross-couplings between aryl Grignard reagents and α-bromo esters were successfully developed using bisoxazoline ligands and further applied in the total synthesis of several important biologically active products, such as the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (S)-fenoprofen, (S)-ar-turmerone and (S)-ibuprofen, as well as the natural bioactive products (R)-ar-curcumene and (R)-4,7-dimethyl-1-tetralone.