Bifunctional N, N'-dioxide catalysts have been developed for highly enantioselective cyanosilylation of α, α-dialkoxy ketones. This process, catalyzed by in-situ-prepared proline- derived N, N'-dioxide 2b, produced the corresponding cyanohydrin trimethylsilyl ethers in excellent yields (up to 99%) with high enantioselectivities (up to 93% ee). A reasonable mechanism was proposed according to the observation of the linear effect, 1H NMR ...
[Pescarmona, Paolo P.; Janssen, Kris P. F.; Delaet, Chloe; Stroobants, Christophe; Houthoofd, Kristof; Philippaerts, An; De Jonghe, Chantal; Paul, Johan S.; Jacobs, Pierre A.; Sels, Bert F. Green Chemistry, 2010 , vol. 12, # 6 p. 1083 - 1089]