Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of homoallylic alcohols

The synthesis of enantiomerically enriched homoallylic alcohols has represented a main goal in asymmetric synthesis thanks to the broad availability of allyl metal compounds and to the extreme versatility of the products, which can be considered precursors of aldols, saturated alcohols, 1,3- and 1,4-diols. In this work we present a novel procedure for the synthesis of highly enantiomerically enriched homoallylic alcohols by the reaction of aldehydes with allyltributyltin in the presence of a catalytic amount of an (S)-(1 ,I'-binaphthalene)-2,2'-diol-titanium complex (BINOL-TiC12, S-1).