Xiaoyu Ren and Haifeng Du*

A highly enantioselective hydrosilylation of 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds was successfully realized for the first time utilizing the combination of tricyclohexylphosphine and chiral alkenylborane derived in situ from diyne as a frustrated Lewis pair catalyst. A variety of optically active α-hydroxy ketones and esters were obtained in 52–98% yields with 86–99% ee’s.

This work has been published in J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138, 810-813.