Multicenter Strategy for the Development of Catalytic Enantioselective Nucleophilic Alkylation of Ketones: Me2Zn Addition to α‐Ketoesters

An array of heteroatoms is essential for the activity and enantioselectivity of the catalyst 2 in the addition of Me2Zn to α-ketoesters 1 (e. g. see equation). α-Hydroxyesters 3 were obtained with up to 96 % ee in the presence of a catalytic amount of additive iPrOH, which serves to generate the catalytically active monomeric species (based on the observation of nonlinear effects). Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http: //www. wiley-vch. de/contents/jc₂002/2003/z51650ₛ. pdf or from the author. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.