Chiral lithium salts of phosphoric acids as lewis acid-base conjugate catalysts for the enantioselective cyanosilylation of ketones

The catalytic enantioselective cyanosilylation of aromatic ketones was developed by using chiral lithium salts of (R)-BINOL- or (S)-BINAM-derived phosphoric acid compounds. In the presence of 1.0 mol% of chiral conjugate lithium salts, the corresponding tertiary cyanohydrins were obtained in high yields with moderate to high enantioselectivities. This is the first efficient example of asymmetric catalysis using lithium salts of synthetically useful chiral phosphoric acid compounds. A possible catalytic mechanism and transition states are also discussed as a preliminary working hypothesis.