Kinetic Resolution of Racemic and Branched Monosubstituted Allylic Acetates by a Ruthenium-Catalyzed Regioselective Allylic Etherification.

We demonstrated the kinetic resolution of racemic and branched monosubstituted allylic acetates by a ruthenium-catalyzed regioselective allylic etherification. The reaction was effectively catalyzed by the chiral ruthenium catalyst, which was generated by [RuCl2(p-cymene)]2 and (S,S)-iPr-pybox and a catalytic amount of TFA, and both the allylic etherification product and recovered allylic acetate were obtained as an enantiomerically enriched form with up to a 103 s value.