Low Ligand Loading, Highly Enantioselective Addition of Phenylacetylene to Aromatic Ketones Catalyzed by Schiff-Base Amino Alcohols

[reaction: see text] Schiff-base amino alcohols 7a,b derived from L-phenylglycine through three simple steps are found to be highly effective for the enantioselective addition of phenylacetylene to aromatic ketones. When the loading of 7b was 1 mol %, an ee value of up to 95% was obtained. However, when 7b was lowered to 0.1 mol %, a high ee value of 85% was still achieved. A practical solution to synthesize the optically active tertiary propargylic alcohols was described.