Abstract
High asymmetric induction has been observed during conjugate addition of various organometallic reagents to some enantiomerically pure 2-arylsulfinyl-2-cycloalkenones. These stereocontrolled carbon-carbon bond forming reactions are discussed in terms of their mechanistic and synthetic aspects, with emphasis on (1) using the same enantiomerically pure sulfoxide to produce either an (R)- or an (S)-3-substituted cycloalkanone, and (2) rationalization of the results in terms of either chelated or non-chelated ketosulfoxide reactants.