Diphenylprolinol Methyl Ether: A Highly Enantioselective Catalyst for Michael Addition of Aldehydes to Simple Enones

[reaction: see text] Diphenylprolinol methyl ether catalyzes intermolecular Michael addition of simple aldehydes to relatively nonactivated enones with the highest enantioselectivities reported to date (95-99% ee) and significantly lower catalyst loadings than have been typical in this arena.