As shown in
Table 3, most of the 1-indanone derived propargylic alcohols bearing different substituents on the alkynyl moiety or phenyl ring were viable substrates for this kinetic resolution, with moderate enantioselectivity achieved. Initially, propargylic alcohols with different substituents (R
2) on the alkynyl moiety were investigated. As expected, with the R
2 group varying from phenyl to
para-halogenated phenyl groups, the reaction rates increased to a certain degree, and the carbonates
2b-
2d could be obtained smoothly, with the recovery of the chiral propargylic alcohols
1b-
1d in 40%-50% yields and 50%-59%
ee values (entries 2-4). For the reaction of
para-methylphenyl substituted propargylic alcohols, affected by the electron-donating effect, a slightly higher 0.5 MPa CO
2 pressure was needed (entry 5). By verifying the substituent in the phenyl ring from
para-position to
meta-position, the reaction could also proceed well to give the corresponding chiral carbonates
2f-
2h in 38%-49% yield, with the recovery of chiral alcohols
1f-
1h in 43%-59% yield and 37%-54%
ee value (entries 6-8). When
ortho-fluoro-or
ortho-chloro-phenyl substituted propargylic alcohol
2i or
2 j was applied to the reaction, a slightly lower reaction rate was observed, probably duo to the steric hindrance effect (entries 9-10). Then, the reaction of propargylic alcohols
1k and
1l bearing 4-bromo and 5-fluoro substituent at the phenyl ring were studied, which could deliver the corresponding chiral carbonate
2k and
2l in 58% and 49% yield, along with the recovery of enantioenriched propargylic alcohol
1k and
1l in 42% and 51% yield with 45% and 47%
ee respectively (entries 11 and 12). Further attempts to use the alkyl substituted or terminal alkyne derived propargylic alcohols were nevertheless unsuccessful, and no desired products could be detected. The absolute configuration of chiral alcohol
1a was determined to be
S by comparing its optical rotation value with the one synthesized by the asymmetric nucleophilic addition reaction [
14]. Based on this, the absolute configuration of other chiral propargylic alcohols and carbonates were tentatively deduced by analogy (for detail, see Supporting information).