New C2-Symmetric Chiral Tetraaza Ligands and Their Application for [Ru(p-cymene)Cl2]2-Catalyzed Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation

Enantiomeric impurities in chiral catalysts, auxiliaries, and synthons used in enantioselective syntheses. Part 5

The enantiomeric excess of chiral starting materials is one of the important factors determining the enantiopurity of products in asymmetric synthesis. Fifty-one commercially available chiral reagents used as building blocks, catalysts, and auxiliaries in various enantioselective syntheses were assayed for their enantiomeric purity. The test results were classified within five impurities level (ie, <0.01%, 0.01%-0.1%, 0.1%-1%, 1%-10%, >10%). Previously from 1998 to 2013, several reports have been published on the enantiomeric composition of more than 300 chiral reagents. This series of papers is necessitated by the fact that new reagents are forthcoming and that the enantiomeric purity of the same reagent can vary from batch to batch and/or from supplier to supplier. This report presents chiral liquid chromatography (LC) and gas chromatography (GC) methods to separate enantiomers of chiral compounds and evaluate their enantiomeric purities. The accurate and efficient LC analysis was done using newly introduced superficially porous particle (SPP 2.7 μm) based chiral stationary phases (TeicoShell, VancoShell, LarihcShell-P, and NicoShell).

Quantum chemical calculations with the inclusion of nonspecific and specific solvation: asymmetric transfer hydrogenation with bifunctional ruthenium catalysts

Details of the mechanism of asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones catalyzed by two chiral bifunctional ruthenium complexes, (S)-RuH[(R,R)-OCH(Ph)CH(Ph)NH(2)](η(6)-benzene) (Ru-1) or (S)-RuH[(R,R)-p-TsNCH(Ph)CH(Ph)NH(2)](η(6)-mesitylene) (Ru-2), were studied computationally by density functional theory, accounting for the solvation effects by using continuum, discrete, and mixed continuum/discrete solvation models via "solvated supermolecules" approach. In contrast to gas phase quantum chemical calculations, where the reactions were found to proceed via a concerted three-bond asynchronous process through a six-membered pericyclic transition state, incorporation of the implicit and/or explicit solvation into the calculations suggests that the same reactions proceed via two steps in solution: (i) enantio-determining hydride transfer and (ii) proton transfer through the contact ion-pair intermediate, stabilized primarily by ionic hydrogen bonding between the cation and the anion. The calculations suggest that the proton source for neutralizing the chiral RO(-) anion may be either the amine group of the cationic Ru complex or, more likely, a protic solvent molecule. In the latter case, the reaction may not necessarily proceed via the 16e amido complex Ru[(R,R)-XCH(Ph)CH(Ph)NH](η(6)-arene). The origin of enantioselectivity is discussed in terms of the newly formulated mechanism.