Synthetic utility of bowl-shaped tris(2,6-diphenyl-benzyl)silyl glyoxylate as a stable glyoxylate: application to highly diastereoselective aldol reactions

A stable glyoxylate can be successfully applied to both syn- and anti-selective aldol reactions by using two different kinds of ordinary Lewis acids. Thus, treatment of bowl-shaped tris(2,6-diphenylbenzyl)silyl glyoxylate 1 with enol silyl ether under the influence of BF3·OEt2 gave syn-aldol product, while the use of TiCl4 afforded anti-aldol product with >97% selectivity.