Synthesis of novel planar chiral ferrocene and cyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl derivatives and their use as chiral ligands in the palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation

We have shown that cymantrene derivatives are better P,N-chelate ligands for palladium-catalyzed allylic alkylation than ferrocenes, which have a similar pentagonal ligand structure to cymantrene derivatives. In particular, the PPh₃-substituted cymantrene gave a higher enantioselectivity (>98%).