Recent Achievements in Enantioselective Borrowing Hydrogen by the Combination of Iron- and Organocatalysis

Abstract

This article summarizes our recent developments in allylic alcohol functionalization by the interconnection of two catalytic cycles. By combining an iron-catalyzed borrowing hydrogen with an organocatalytic enantioselective nucleophilic addition, allylic alcohols can be converted to enantioenriched chiral aliphatic alcohols in up to 92% ee. This eco-compatible one-operation multi-catalytic process allows the classical oxidation-addition-reduction steps usually required for this transformation to be bypassed. Synthetic applications in the synthesis of different fragments of some important natural products have highlighted the great potential of this transformation.