Novel N,N,P-tridentate ligands for the highly enantioselective copper-catalyzed 1,4-addition of dialkylzincs to enones

Use of 0.25 mol % of the N,N,P-tridentate ligand containing the 2-quinolyl moiety (1 and 2) and 0.1 mol % of Cu(OTf)(2) enabled the enantioselective 1,4-addition of dialkylzincs to cyclic enones to produce 1,4-adducts in up to 99% ee.