Asymmetric 1,4‐Addition of Diethylzinc to Cyclic Enones Catalyzed by Cu(I)‐Chiral Sulfonamide‐Thiophosphoramide Ligands and Lithium Salts

The chiral sulfonamide‐thiophosphoramide ligand L1 , prepared from the reaction of (1R,2R)‐(−)‐1,2‐cyclohexanediamine with diphenylthiophosphoryl chloride and p‐toluenesulfonyl chloride, was used as a chiral ligand in Cu(MeCN)₄ClO₄‐promoted catalytic asymmetric addition of diethylzinc to cyclic enones using LiCl as an additive in which up to 90% ee can be realized under mild conditions within 0.5 h. This chiral ligand is stable and recoverable after usual work‐up and can be reused in the same catalytic asymmetric reaction. Moreover, it was found that this series of chiral ligands represents a type of S,O‐bidentate ligands on the basis of ¹H NMR, ³¹P NMR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopic investigations. The linear effect of ligand ee and product ee further revealed that the active species is a monomeric Cu(I) complex bearing a single ligand.