Ligand Enabled Nickel-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydroarylation of Styrenes and 1,3-Dienes with Arylboronic Acids

A chiral spiro aminophosphine ligand enabled nickel-catalyzed asymmetric hydroarylation of styrenes and 1,3-dienes with arylboronic acids. The reaction was promoted by a Ni–H species generated from protonation of Ni(0) with alcohol. This reaction uses only catalytic amount reagents and provided an efficient, straightforward and mild method for preparing enantioenriched 1,1-diarylalkanes, which are important motifs for the synthesis of many biologically active molecules.