Highly catalytic enantioselective reduction of aromatic ketones using chiral polymer-supported Corey, Bakshi, and Shibata catalysts

A systematic study was conducted to formulate the optimal reaction parameters for polymer-supported (PS)-oxazaborolidine catalyzed enantioselective ketone reduction. The B-methylated chiral oxazaborolidine prepared in situ from the previously reported polymers by Degni et al. have been used in the enantioselective borane reduction of some substituted aromatic ketones to afford the corresponding optical active secondary alcohol products. While the linear-bound system shows low enantioselectivity, the cross-linked version affords enantioselectivities almost identical to those of the monomeric model (with up to 96% enantiomeric excesses). (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.