Vanadium-catalyzed asymmetric cyanohydrin synthesis
Based on a mechanistic understanding of asymmetric cyanohydrin synthesis catalyzed by chiral titanium-salen complexes, a new catalyst based on vanadium(IV) has been developed. The chiral (salen)VO catalyst is more enantioselective than the titanium-based systems, 0.1 mol % of the catalyst being sufficient to convert aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes into the corresponding trimethylsilyl ethers of cyanohydrins with 68-95% enantiomeric excess at room temperature.
Belokon'
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Department of Chemistry, King's College, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, U. K. and A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117813 Vavilov 28, Moscow, Russia.
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