Enantioselective Alkynylation of Aromatic Aldehydes Catalyzed by New C2-Symmetric Bis-Schiff Base Amino Alcohol

Some novel C2-symmetric bis-schiff base amino alcohols were prepared, the structure of which is similar to Salens`. Butyl lithium was chosen as the base to generate nucleophilic reagent in asymmetric addition to benzaldehyde using amino alcohols as chiral ligand. Only moderate enantioselectivity was observed, and by using the ligand with inverted configuration, the resulting alcohol has the inverted configuration.