Potassium 2‐oxo‐3‐enoates as Effective and Versatile Surrogates for α, β‐Unsaturated Aldehydes in NHC‐Catalyzed Asymmetric Reactions

Abstract Potassium 2‐oxo‐3‐enoates, which are readily prepared at scale and easily stored, have been found to be effective and versatile surrogates for α,β‐unsaturated aldehydes in NHC‐catalyzed asymmetric reactions. Promoted by chiral N‐heterocyclic carbenes combined with LiCl, these easy‐to‐handle solid salts could release of CO 2 and then undergo asymmetric reactions via homoenolate and α, β‐unsaturated acyl azolium intermediate. The reactions have broad substrate scopes with high enantioselectivities. magnified image