Catalytic Enantioselective Addition of Aryl Grignard Reagents to Ketones

We report a catalytic system for the challenging enantioselective addition of aryl Grignard reagents to ketones. Using a simple, one-pot procedure under mild conditions, a wide range of aromatic ketones are converted into diaryl alcohols in good yields and with good enantioselectivities.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (MCYT) (project numbers CTQ2007-65218/BQU and CTQ2011-24151), Consolider Ingenio 2010 (grant number CSD2007-00006), and Generalitat Valenciana (G. V. PROMETEO/2009/039 and FEDER). B. M. thanks the European Commision for a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant. E. F.-M. thanks the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC) for a FPU predoctoral fellowship (AP-2010-2926)