Synthesis of Optically Pure Arylsilylcarbinols and Their Use as Chiral Auxiliaries in Oxacarbenium Ion Reactions

A family of arylsilylcarbinols was synthesized and investigated as chiral auxiliaries for oxacarbenium ion reactions. The optically pure arylsilylcarbinols were prepared using Noyori's transfer hydrogenation catalyst 11. The transfer hydrogenation shows very good enantioselectivities and turnover efficiency for the aryl silyl ketones and is the method of choice for preparing these optically pure alcohols. The diastereoselective addition of allyltrimethylsilane to an in situ generated oxacarbenium ion was explored using Marko's conditions. The selectivity for a representative aliphatic aldehyde was very good, but the selectivity was significantly reduced with unsaturated and aromatic aldehydes. The range of selectivities with different auxiliaries was narrow, and the most practical auxiliary is the phenylsilylcarbinol 2.