Highly efficient asymmetric additions of diethylzinc to aldehydes triply activated by chiral phosphoramide-Zn(II) complexes derived from cinchona alkaloids.

New chiral phosphoramide ligands derived from cinchona alkaloids were developed, which react with diethylzinc to form chiral phosphoramide-Zn(II) complexes containing two Lewis bases and one Lewis acid. These trifunctional complexes can serve as highly efficient chiral catalysts for triple activation of enantioselective addition reactions of diethylzinc with aldehydes to give desired alcohol products with excellent yields and enantiomeric excess (ee) values up to 99%.