A Practical Organocatalytic Alkylation Reaction with Benzodithiolylium Tetrafluoroborate

The experiment is a simple and practical organocatalytic procedure for the enantiose- lective alkylation of aldehydes using a commercially available and stable carbenium ion. The alkylated adduct 4, obtained in high enantiomeric excess, is then transformed into the corresponding enantioen- riched alcohol 5 by reduction of the benzodithiole group with Raney®-nickel.