Enantioselective C-H crotylation of primary alcohols via hydrohydroxyalkylation of butadiene.

The direct, by-product-free conversion of basic feedstocks to products of medicinal and agricultural relevance is a broad goal of chemical research. Butadiene is a product of petroleum cracking and is produced on an enormous scale (about 12 × 10(6) metric tons annually). Here, with the use of a ruthenium catalyst modified by a chiral phosphate counterion, we report the direct redox-triggered carbon-carbon coupling of alcohols and butadiene to form products of carbonyl crotylation with high levels of anti-diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity in the absence of stoichiometric by-products.