Organo[2-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl]dimethylsilanes as mild and reproducible agents for rhodium-catalyzed 1,4-addition reactions.

Stable and reusable tetraorganosilicon reagents, alkenyl-, aryl-, and silyl[2-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl]dimethylsilanes, undergo 1,4-addition reactions to alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl acceptors under mild rhodium-catalysis. The reaction tolerates a diverse range of functional groups and is applicable to gram-scale synthesis. Use of a chiral diene ligand allows the achievement of the corresponding enantioselective transformations using the tetraorganosilicon reagents, providing the silicon-based approach to optically active ketones and substituted piperidones that serve as synthetic intermediates of pharmaceuticals. A rhodium alkoxide species is suggested to be responsible for a transmetalation step on the basis of the observed kinetic resolution of a racemic chiral phenylsilane in the enantioselective 1,4-addition reaction under the rhodium-chiral diene catalysis.