Enantioselective cyanation of aldehydes catalyzed by bifunctional salen-aluminum complex

Chiral N-oxide salen ligands and their corresponding Al complexes were synthesized. Notably, the catalytic activity and asymmetric induction ability of the bifunctional N-oxide salen-Al for asymmetric cyanosilylation were compared with that of bi-component catalyst system including chiral pyrrolidine salen-Al complex and Ph3PO. Interestingly, introducing N-oxide group in salen unit could enhance the activity and enantioselectivity of bifunctional catalyst without further adding Ph3PO as co-catalyst and inverse configurations were generated from the two systems. In addition, excellent yields and high ee values could be obtained under milder conditions in bifunctional catalyst system compared with that of bi-component catalyst system. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.