A Novel Dinuclear Chiral Niobium Complex for Lewis Acid Catalyzed Enantioselective Reactions: Design of a Tridentate Ligand and Elucidation of the Catalyst Structure

Abstract

Two's company: By using a novel chiral ligand a dinuclear chiral niobium catalyst for highly enantioselective Mannich-type reactions was developed. Tridentate binol derivatives provide excellent asymmetric environments around the niobium atom, and the Mannich-type reactions proceeded smoothly in high yields with high enantioselectivities (see scheme; NMI=N-methylimidazole).