Stereoselective synthesis of a chiral ferrosalen ligand using an aromatization strategy

A new chiral salen ligand based on two ferrocenyl groups is designed. Unlike known salen ligands, of which chirality originates from central and axial chiral centers, the chirality of this ligand comes from the planar chiral ferrocenyl groups. The ligand is synthesized stereoselectively using a novel aromatization strategy starting from a ferrocene derivative, which was readily prepared using a known chiral auxiliary approach.

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► Designed a new class of ferrosalen ligand.
► Developed a novel aromatization method for their stereoselective synthesis.
► These ligands will find applications in asymmetric catalysis.