Chiral Phosphoric Acid Catalyzed Enantioselective Desymmetrization of meso-Epoxides by Thiols

The first chiral Bronsted acid catalyzed asymmetric nucleophilic ring-opening reaction of meso-epoxides is described. In the presence of TRIP, a range of meso-epoxides could undergo smooth ring-opening reactions by aryl thiols with good efficiency and enantioselectivity.