Development of Axially Chiral Pyridylidene Amine Ligands and their Application in Pd-Catalyzed Enantioselective Allylic Substitution.

A series of novel axially chiral pyridylidene amine (PYE) ligands has been developed, and their catalytic capability has been demonstrated in various highly efficient and enantioselective Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitutions. A density-functional theory (DFT) study explains the preferential enantiocontrol in the key transition states of the axially chiral PYE ligand-promoted Pd-catalyzed allylic alkylation.