The productive merger of iodonium salts and organocatalysis: a non-photolytic approach to the enantioselective alpha-trifluoromethylation of aldehydes.

An enantioselective organocatalytic alpha-trifluoromethylation of aldehydes has been accomplished using a commercially available, electrophilic trifluoromethyl source. The merging of Lewis acid and organocatalysis provides a new strategy for the enantioselective construction of trifluoromethyl stereogenicity, an important chiral synthon for pharmaceutical, materials, and agrochemical applications. This mild and operationally simple protocol allows rapid access to enantioenriched alpha-trifluoromethylated aldehydes through a nonphotolytic pathway.