| Abstract: | Both enantiomers of the novel amino alcohol (R)‐ and (S)‐ 2 are prepared from the corresponding enantiomer of the mandelic acid‐derived ethanediol 3 . The regioisomeric amino alcohols 1 and 2 are converted into the imines 7 and 8 , respectively. Titanium complexes 9 and 10 derived therefrom are used as catalysts for the addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde and yield the alcohol 11 in up to 92% ee. On the other hand, the chloro‐substituted titanium complexes 14 and 15 are able to mediate the Torgov cyclization reaction of the diketone 16 to give the estrone derivative 17 . In both reactions titanium complexes 10 and 15 derived of the novel amino alcohol 2 give higher enantioselectivities than the complexes 9 and 14 that are based on the regioisomeric amino alcohol 1 . |
