Organocatalytic Asymmetric Intermolecular Dehydrogenative α-Alkylation of Aldehydes Using Molecular Oxygen as Oxidant

An organocatalytic enantioselective intermolecular oxidative dehydrogenative alpha-alkylation of aldehydes via benzylic C-H bond activation has been developed. The asymmetric reaction is smoothly fulfilled by using simple and green molecular oxygen as the oxidant. Two hydrogen dissociations make this transformation more environmentally benign because of high atom efficiency.