Stereoselective Palladium-Catalyzed Addition of Boronic Acids onto Aldehydes

Significance

The authors of this report used palladium catalysis to diastereoselectively generate diaryl methanols with moderate selectivity. One attractive feature is the ability to apply the slightly less expensive palladium catalyst (compared to rhodium). The use of boronic acid substrates as coupling partners is also an interesting aspect. The authors must first convert 2-bromobenzaldehyde in a two-step sequence into the chiral sulfinyl compound.