Abstract Asymmetric α-alkylation of ketones is a powerful synthetic tool; however, its application to challenging substrates, such as acyclic dialkyl ketones and unactivated alkyl electrophiles is limited. We describe a catalytic system employing a dinickel(I) complex that facilitates the enantioselective α-alkylation of acyclic dialkyl ketones using unactivated alkyl iodides. This method efficiently constructs ketones with quaternary carbon stereocenters in high yield while demonstrating outstanding levels of chemo-, regio-, and enantiocontrol.
Zhu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.