Catalytic Asymmetric Dihydroxylation of Alkenes Induced by polymeric Chiral Ligands

Chiral monomers, bearing different quinidine derivatives, were copolymerized with achiral monomers, producing insoluble copolymers which were used for the dihydroxylation of styrene as standard substrate. The structure of the polymeric insoluble support was found to be of great importance in determining the handling, efficiency, and enantioselectivity of the catalyst. The comparison with a soluble model compound showed that the insoluble polymer-bound ligand approach is very promising for both small- and large-scale synthesis of optically active vicinal diols.