Chiral Sulfinamide Bisphosphine Catalysts: Design, Synthesis, and Application in Highly Enantioselective Intermolecular Cross-Rauhut-Currier Reactions.

A novel type of highly efficient chiral sulfinamide bisphosphine catalysts (Wei-Phos) were developed. These could be easily prepared from commercially available starting materials. Wei-Phos has shown good performance in the very challenging intermolecular cross-Rauhut-Currier reactions of vinyl ketones and 3-acyl acrylates or 2-ene-1,4-diones, leading to the R-C products in high yields with up to 99% ee under 2.5-5 mol% catalyst loading. The highly regio- and enantio-selective cross-Rauhut-Currier reactions of 2-ene-1,4-diones and vinyl ketone have yet reported so far.