A Catalytic and Mechanistic Investigation of Optically Active Helical Poly[3-(9-alkylfluoren-9-yl)propylene oxide]s in the Enantioselective Addition of Ethylmagnesium Bromide to Aldehydes

Optically active helical poly[(S)-3-(9-alkylfluoren-9-yl)propylene oxide]s (poly-(S)-AFPOs) without additional stereogenic units were used to induce the enantioselective addition of ethylmagnesium bromide to aldehydes, giving up to 53% ee of the products. It is the helically chiral environment rather than the point chirality that governs the enantioselective inducement of the addition reaction. Poly-(S)-AFPOs could be recovered simply, post-treated conveniently and used repeatedly.