Copper-Catalyzed Conjugate Addition of Dialkylzinc Reagents

Significance

While the conjugate addition reaction has been widely studied over many years, effective methods for the asymmetric addition of alkyl groups to acyclic α,β-unsaturated carbonyls are less common. Importantly, in this report both alkyl and aryl substitution at the β-position of the α,β-unsaturated N-acylpyrrolidinone gave good enantioselectivities. Both Et₂Zn and i-Pr₂Zn gave good results with the former outperforming the latter.