Abstract

There is growing interest in enantioselective synthesis of optically active propargylic alcohols. One of the most effective and straightforward ways for their synthesis is asymmetric addition of terminal alkynes to aldehydes. In the past several years, various combinations of novel chiral ligands and transition metal sources have been employed as catalysts in this asymmetric alkynylation reaction. In this review, we highlight the recent advances in this field and try to compare the methods available for this transformation.