Enantioselective 1,4-conjugate addition of diethylzinc to (E)-alkenyl aryl ketones catalysed by Cu/DiPPAM complex

We report here the use of the DiPPAM-L1 ligand for copper-catalysed asymmetric conjugate addition (ACA) of diethylzinc to various (E)-alkenyl aryl ketones where the aryl ring is either a phenyl group substituted by nitro, chloro or methoxy groups or not substituted, or a naphthyl group. When the conjugate addition was performed in the greener AcOEt solvent with 1 or 2 mol % of Cu(OTf)2/DiPPAM complex, moderate to good yields (45–83%) and high enantioselectivities (up to 98%) were reached.