The asymmetric reduction of imidazolinones with trichlorosilane

Abstract

It is shown how imidazolinones are reduced by trichlorosilane in a highly enantioselective fashion when treated with a novel Lewis base organocatalyst that is based on a 2,2′-bispyrrolidine core. Under mild reaction conditions and with low catalyst loading the hydrosilylation reaction provides a broad range of chiral imidazolidinones with various structural motifs including sterically demanding substituents, alkyls and aryls.