We have developed highly enantioselective carbonyl-ene reactions catalyzed by a chiral titanium complex prepared from optically pure binaphthol (BINOL) and (
i-PrO)
2TiCl
2 in the presence of molecular sieves (MS) 4 A. During the course of the structural elucidation of catalytically active “BINOL-Ti”, MS 4 A employed in the catalyst preparation step was found to function not only as a base to trap HCl but also as H
2O donor eventually providing the active “BINOL-Ti”. The effect of counter cations of zeolites was also investigated in the catalyst preparation step. A sufficient content of Na cation in the zeolites is the key for efficient formation of the active “BINOL-Ti”. Direct transformation of BINOL-Ti (O
i-Pr)
2 under the influence of the hydrated MS 4 A into the active catalyst was examined, where BINOL-Ti (O
i-Pr)
2 was assembled into the active “BINOL-Ti” primarily composed of μ
3-oxo (Ti
3O) species via the di-μ
3-oxo bridging tetranuclear titanium complex. Although the exact structure of the active “BINOL-Ti” has not yet been determined, we proposed a plausible pathway to the formation of active “BINOL-Ti” from BINOL and (
i-PrO)
2TiCl
2 under the influence of hydrated MS 4 A.
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