Cu‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Reductive Coupling of 1,3‐Dienes and Carboxylic Acid Anhydrides

Abstract Catalytic chemo‐, regio‐ and enantioselective construction of allyl‐Cu complexes generated from a Cu−H addition to trans ‐1,3‐dienes followed by in situ addition to anhydrides to construct homoallylic alcohols is presented. This method is distinguished by a characteristic pathway to generate enantiomerically enriched allyl‐Cu species, which react with a wide range of anhydrides in high chemo‐, regio‐ and stereoselectivity. Functionalization of homoallylic alcohol products provides useful building blocks which are otherwise difficult to obtain.