Difluorphos Complexes of Palladium and Nickel-Catalyzed α-Arylation of Ketones

The authors describe the first enantioselective α-arylation of ketones with aryl triflates to provide access to enantioenriched quaternary stereocenters through use of chiral biarylphosphine-palladium and -nickel complexes. The combination of electron-rich aryl triflates and a palladium catalyst, and that of electron-poor aryl triflates and a nickel catalyst led to a series of α-arylations that occur with much higher enantioselectivity than the previously reported reactions of aryl bromides with other catalysts.