Enantioconvergent synthesis of chiral fluorenols from racemic secondary alcohols via Pd(ii)/chiral norbornene cooperative catalysis

An efficient protocol for the asymmetric synthesis of fluorenols has been developed through an enantioconvergent process enabled by Pd(ii)/chiral norbornene cooperative catalysis. This approach allows facile access to diverse functionalized chiral fluorenols with constantly excellent enantioselectivities, applying readily available racemic secondary ortho-bromobenzyl alcohols and aryl iodides as the starting materials.