Iridium catalysis asymmetric hydrogenation

Asymmetric hydrogenation of quinolines by iridium catalysis was explored <03JA10536>. Nineteen compounds were reported with excellent yields and enantiomeric excesses. 

Although rhodium and iridium are high-priced precious metals, their complexes are indispensable for homogeneous catalysis. Prominent examples for their use on the industrial scale are, among others, asymmetric hydrogenation, hydroformyla-tion, and the Monsanto acetic acid or the Cativa process [1]. 

Arylation, olefins, 187, 190 Arylketimines, iridium hydrogenation, 83 Arylpropanoic acid, Grignard coupling, 190 Aspartame, 8, 27 Asymmetric catalysis characteristics, 11 chiral metal complexes, 122 covalently bound intermediates, 323 electrochemistry, 342 hydrogen-bonded associates, 328 industrial applications, 8, 357 optically active compounds, 2 phase-transfer reactions, 333 photochemistry, 341 polymerization, 174, 332 purely organic compounds, 323 see also specific complexes Asymmetric induction, 71, 155 Attractive interaction, 196, 216 Autoinduction, 330 Axial chirality, 18 Aza-Diels-Alder reaction, 220 Azetidinone, 44, 80 Aziridination, olefins, 207... 

In addition to transfer hydrogenation reactions, arene ruthenium complexes also display excellent activity in the catalytic hydrogenation of olefins and alkynes including asymmetric reduction [40]. Remarkably, this process occurs under milder conditions, than required for catalysis with the dissociation of arene-metal bond. Lately, arene iridium complexes have also been found to be effective hydrogenation catalysts [41 ]. It is noteworthy that iridium can also promotes addition to the carbon-nitrogen double bond. 

In 2015, Zhao and co-workers described the first dynamic kinetic asymmetric amination of alcohols via borrowing hydrogen methodology under the cooperative catalysis of iridium complex 25 and chiral phosphoric acid 27 (Schemes 31, 32) [179]. The authors proposed that, initially, the two stereocenters in the alcohols were both racemized to ketone by the first oxidation, followed by tautomerization of the iminium intermediates 28 and 30 through enamine intermediate 29. Then, the... 

Although phosphinite- and NHC-based iridium catalysts show very similar enantiose-lectivities in the hydrogenation of various olefins, replacement of the phosphinite group by an A-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) unit results in particularly effective catalysts which are much better suited for the hydrogenation of acid-sensitive substrates beeause of the lower acidity of iridium hydride intermediates produced. The new NHC-pyridine ligands are also likely to prove useful for other applications in asymmetric catalysis." ... 

Chiral transition-metal complexes have also been featured in the following reports " of asymmetric carbonyl reductions hydrogenation of / -aryl- -ketoesters 0 using H2 and iridium-bearing spiro pyridine-aminophosphine ligand rhodium in a theoretical study of catalysis involving amino acid-derived ligands and in... 

---