Ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of aromatic and heteroaromatic ketones using cinchona alkaloid-derived NNP ligands

Cinchona-Alkaloid-Derived NNP Ligand for Iridium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation of β-Keto Ester

The Ir-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of β-keto esters with Cinchona-alkaloid-derived NNP ligands has been developed. β-Hydroxy esters of opposite configuration were afforded smoothly with 91.5-99.1 and 81.6-99.3% ee, respectively, using NNP L2 and L7 derived from quinidine and quinine separately even on the gram scale. The protocol for the preparation of β-hydroxy esters of opposite configuration by the simple conversion of ligand configurations offered further opportunities for the synthesis of biologically active molecules and drugs.

The Ir-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation of α-Halogenated Ketones Utilizing Cinchona-Alkaloid-Derived NNP Ligand to Produce (R)- and (S)-Halohydrins

The asymmetric hydrogenation of α-halogenated ketones with iridium catalyst was developed, utilizing easily accessed cinchona-alkaloid-based NNP ligands. Various α-chloroacetophenones, heterocyclic thienyl and furanyl substrates, and even bromoketones were completely converted to the desired chiral halohydrins by this protocol. Both (R)- and (S)-chiral halohydrins can be prepared by changing the configurations of the chiral ligand NNP with up to 99.6% ee (enantiomeric excess) and 98.8% ee, respectively. Also, a gram-scale experiment was carried out efficiently.

Iridium-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones with a cinchona alkaloid derived NNP ligand

An iridium complex generated in situ from [Ir(COD)Cl]₂ and a cinchona alkaloid derived NNP ligand has been developed for the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones. In this study, 30 aromatic ketones and heteroaryl ketones were hydrogenated to produce valuable chiral alcohols with up to 99% ee using i-PrOH as the hydrogen source and the solvent. The easily prepared Ir(L8)(COD)Cl also exhibited excellent activity and enantioselectivity in asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones with a high S/C ratio (up to 2000).