A New Enantioselective Catalytic Route to Florhydral

The valuable fragrance Florhydral® [3-(3-isopropylphenyl)butanal] has been synthesized in almost enantiomerically pure form by a new catalytic route. The key step of the process is the enantioselective hydrogenation of (E)-3-(3-isopropylphenyl)but-2-en-1-ol, which is carried out with asymmetric inductions of up to 97% using an iridium-phosphinooxazoline chiral catalyst.