First substoichiometric version of the catalytic enantioselective addition of an alkyllithium to an aldehyde†
Abstract
A substoichiometric enantioselective version of the extremely fast nucleophilic addition of Alk-Li to RCHO is made possible thanks to a thorough analysis of the aggregation phenomena involved in the reaction: calculated quantities of LiCl must be added to the medium at the right time to keep the catalytic cycle running.