Enantioselective Homocrotylboration of Aliphatic Aldehydes

A practical route to optically pure syn-homocrotylation reagents is described, including highly diastereo- and enantioselective preparation of numerous syn-homocrotyl products, as well as several matched mismatched pairs. NMR experiments suggest that the active homocrotylating species is a cyclopropylcarbinyldichloroborane generated by chloride exchange from the PhBCl2 activator. Computational studies support the intermediacy of chloroboranes and suggest that homoallyl/homocrotyl transfers occur through Zimmerman-Traxler transition states.