Benzoimidazole-pyrrolidine (BIP), a highly reactive chiral organocatalyst for aldol process

A new chiral benzoimidazole–pyrrolidine ligand (BIP) was shown to catalyze an aldol process in the presence of an equimolar amount of a Bronsted acid, leading to the aldol adduct in high yield and enantioselectivity. Remarkably, the aldol reaction was still effectively catalyzed when starting from equimolar amounts of aldehyde and ketone in THF.