Novel fluorous prolinol as a pre-catalyst for catalytic asymmetric borane reduction of various ketones

Novel prolinol carrying two perfluorohexylethyl groups at the α-position was prepared from l-proline as a starting chiral substrate. Catalytic asymmetric reduction of various ketones, including mono-, di-, and trifluoromethylated acetophenones, using fluorous oxazaborolidines derived from fluorous prolinol afforded the corresponding alcohols in good to excellent yields and with high enantioselectivities (up to 93.2% ee). The fluorous prolinol was recovered without any fluorous solvents or silica gel by simply cooling the organic phase and filtration.