Practical synthesis of chiral ligands for catalytic enantioselective cyanosilylation of ketones

A practical and more environmentally benign synthetic route of chiral ligands that are useful for catalytic enantioselective cyanosilylation of ketones is described. A key step is the regioselective SN2 reaction to cyclic sulfate 12 with catechol derivatives. A range of chiral ligands containing electronically tuned catechols has become available by this new route.