Abstract
The diol-catalyzed enantioselective conjugate addition of boronic acids and boronate esters has seen significant development in the last decade. However, no experimental mechanistic studies related to this transformation have been reported to date. Hammett plot-based analysis of reaction rates has been performed with aryl substitution both at the carbonyl and at the olefin of an enone electrophile. The resulting trends indicate that C-C bond formation is the likely rate limiting step. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.