Anionic chiral cobalt(III) complexes as catalysts of asymmetric synthesis of cyanohydrins

Chiral coordinatively saturated cobalt(III) complexes with Schiff bases of enantiopure amino acids are formed as Lambda- and Delta-isomers, which are not transformed into each other under normal conditions. These complexes catalyze the formation of enantiomerically enriched cyanohydrins from aldehydes and Me3SiCN under homo- and heterogeneous catalysis.