Synthesis, structure and catalytic activity of new chiral nitrogen-containing ligands

The use of nitrogen-containing ligands for asymmetric catalysis has received growing interest in the last years. In this paper we report the synthesis of three new ligands (5c, 5d and 6) and the X-ray structure analysis of 5c and of the copper(II) complex 6-Cu(II)OTf. The catalytic activity of the ligands was tested in standard asymmetric reactions, but in most of the cases only low yields and poor enantioselectivity was obtained.