Intermolecular Catalytic Asymmetric Iodoetherification of Unfunctionalized Alkenes.

A newly prepared trinuclear Zn 3 -( R , S , S )-aminoiminobinaphthoxide complex ( triZn-II ) catalyzed the first general intermolecular asymmetric iodoetherification of unfunctionalized alkenes. Using triZn-II , the iodoetherification reaction of unfunctionalized alkenes with o -nitrophenols proceeded smoothly to give the products with up to 92.5:7.5 er, and diene substrates were converted to the products with up to 99:1 er with the formation of a meso -isomer (dl/ meso = 78/22). The chiral iodoethers gave a new platform for the synthesis of chiral morpholines.