Chen X, Fong JZ, Xu J, Mou C, Lu Y, Yang S, Song BA, and Chi YR
Journal of the American Chemical Society [J Am Chem Soc] 2016 Jun 15; Vol. 138 (23), pp. 7212-5. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Jun 02.
Abstract
Carbene-catalyzed reaction of carboxylic esters has the potential to offer effective synthetic solutions that cannot be readily achieved by using the more conventional aldehyde-type substrates. Here we report the first carbene-catalyzed dynamic kinetic resolution of α,α-disubstituted carboxylic esters with up to 99:1 er and 99% yield. The present study clearly illustrates the unique power of carbene-catalyzed reactions of readily available and easy to handle carboxylic esters.