Synthesis of Electron-Deficient Chiral Biphenols and Their Applications in Catalytic Asymmetric Reactions

The axially chiral biphenols are known as a broadly applicable chiral source. However, only a few electron-deficient ones have been reported to date. In the present study, chiral biphenols having several electron-withdrawing groups have been designed, and a facile synthetic route from readily available reagents has been developed. Newly synthesized chiral electron-deficient biphenols and biphenol-derived chiral Brønsted acids functioned as effective catalysts for several catalytic asymmetric reactions.