Enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed C-C bond activations

A review. The catalytic activation of C-C single bonds represents a major challenge in organometallic chem. Strained ring substrates occupy in this respect a privileged role as their inherent ring strain facilitates the desired metal insertion. Employing sym. substituted tert-cyclobutanols, an enantioselective Rh(ι)-catalyzed β-C elimination creates alkyl-Rh species bearing all-C quaternary stereogenic centers. Downstream reactions enable access to a wide range of synthetically versatile products such as substituted cyclohexenones, lactones and indanols with excellent enantioselectivities of up to 99% ee.