Enantioselective organocatalytic hydrophosphination of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes

Keeping it simple: Optically active phosphine derivatives can be obtained in high yields and in up to 99% ee by using simple chiral amines to catalyze the hydrophosphination of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes (see scheme, green sphere = chiral group). The synthetic utility of this highly chemo- and enantioselective transformation was exemplified by the one-pot asymmetric synthesis of β-phosphine oxide acids. © 2007 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.