Ivanov reaction, stereochemistry

The Ivanov reaction is the preparation of a 3-hydroxy acid by reaction of the magnesium dianion of a carboxylic acid with an aldehyde or ketone." In a seminal paper, Zimmerman and Traxler investigated the Ivanov reaction of phenylacetic acid and benzaldehyde and obtained anti and syn 3-hydroxy acids (127) and (128) in 69% and 22% yields, respectively (equation 85). The observed stereochemistry was rationalized with a cyclic, chair-like transition state in which a magnesium cation is chelated by one oxygen each of the carboxylate enolate and the aldehyde (the Zimmerman-Traxler transition state ). 

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