A HIGHLY CHEMO-SELECTIVE AND ENANTIO-SELECTIVE HETERO-DIELS-ALDER REACTION CATALYZED BY CHIRAL ALUMINUM COMPLEXES

A new, highly chemo- and enantio-selective catalytic hetero Diels-Alde r reaction of conjugated dienes containing allylic C-H bonds with carb onyl compounds has been developed; with the use of (S)-(-)-BINOL-AlMe (BINOL = 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol) as a catalyst, simple conjugated dienes r eact with glyoxylate esters, giving the (R)-enantiomer of the hetero-D iels-Alder adduct as the major product with up to 97% ee.