Abstract A palladium (II) complex of menthyldiphenylphosphine (MDPP) or epidemic neomenthyldiphenylphosphine (NMDPP) was used as an effective catalyst for the asymmetric hydrosilylation of styrene and some cyclic conjugated dienes, such as cyclopentadiene; the reaction giving optically active 1-phenylethylsilane and 2- cycloalkenylsilane derivatives, respectively.
