Cobalt(III)-Catalyzed Diastereo- and Enantioselective Three-Component C–H Functionalization

Catalytic enantioselective C–H
functionalization has recently
become a tool for the creation of stereogenic centers. The steep increase
in molecular complexity of multicomponent reactions matches very well
with asymmetric C–H functionalizations, but the realization
of such processes remains a large challenge. We describe a diastereoselective
and highly enantioselective three-component C–H functionalization
catalyzed by an earth-abundant Co­(III) complex equipped with a chiral
cyclopentadienyl ligand (Cpx). The transformation provides
a rapid access to substituted β-hydroxyketones using three readily
accessible starting materials. The outlined reactivity of CpxCo­(III) catalysis shows a higher and exploitable propensity for selective
additions across carbonyls in contrast to the chemistry of Rh­(III).