CHIRAL PD ORGANOMETALLIC COMPLEXES AS CATALYSTS IN CYCLOPROPANATION REACTIONS

Asymmetric cyclopropanation of styrene with diazoacetic esters is perf ormed firstly using chiral amino acidato complexes of Pd(LI) containin g a C,N-cyclometallated group as an ancillary ligand as catalyst precu rsors. In general these catalytic systems provide good conversion to t he corresponding cyclopropyl derivatives with a moderate trans selecti vity, although the stereoselectivities obtained were low. With the use of chiral catalysts and chiral diazoacetic esters the diastereoselect ivities were slightly improved.