Applications of chiral sulfoxides in enantioselective synthesis of diols and total synthesis of natural products

The sulfoxide mediated enantioselective reduction of carbonyl compounds was extended to the synthesis of enantiomerically pure syn and anti diols, including C2 symmetric diols. Several applications related to the syntheses of natural products are described. Finally, this sulfoxide mediated enantioselective synthesis was extended to the transformation of ethyl oxalate or other oxalic acid derivatives to enantiomerically pure syn and anti 1,2‐diols. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 13:443–452, 2002; Published online in Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/hc.10079