“…[3] The mechanism is usually a combination of both covalent and noncovalent catalyses, since most of these catalysts also contain a hydrogen-bonding moiety to direct the approach of the enamine acceptor. In contrast, although enol and enolate (Scheme 1, lower equation) are the active intermediates in the original aldol reactions, [4] organocatalyzed enantioselective direct aldol reaction of unactivated ketones through the enolate mechanism is very difficult, because the acidity of the a proton in these ketones is very low. To our knowledge, there has been no such report.…”