Ruthenium complex catalysts asymmetric hydrogenation

Manufacture of ruthenium precatalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation. The technology in-licensed from the JST for the asymmetric reduction of ketones originally employed BINAP as the diphosphine and an expensive diamine, DAIPEN." Owing to the presence of several patents surrounding ruthenium complexes of BINAP and Xylyl-BINAP, [HexaPHEMP-RuCl2-diamine] and [PhanePHOS-RuCl2-diamine] were introduced as alternative catalyst systems in which a cheaper diamine is used. Compared to the BINAP-based systems both of these can offer superior performance in terms of activity and selectivity and have been used in commercial manufacture of chiral alcohols on multi-100 Kg scales. 

Asymmetric hydrogenation has been achieved with dissolved Wilkinson type catalysts (A. J. Birch, 1976 D. Valentine, Jr., 1978 H.B. Kagan, 1978). The (R)- and (S)-[l,l -binaph-thalene]-2,2 -diylblsCdiphenylphosphine] (= binap ) complexes of ruthenium (A. Miyashita, 1980) and rhodium (A. Miyashita, 1984 R. Noyori, 1987) have been prepared as pure atrop-isomers and used for the stereoselective Noyori hydrogenation of a-(acylamino) acrylic acids and, more significantly, -keto carboxylic esters. In the latter reaction enantiomeric excesses of more than 99% are often achieved (see also M. Nakatsuka, 1990, p. 5586). 

Asymmetric epoxidation of olefins with ruthenium catalysts based either on chiral porphyrins or on pyridine-2,6-bisoxazoline (pybox) ligands has been reported (Scheme 6.21). Berkessel et al. reported that catalysts 27 and 28 were efficient catalysts for the enantioselective epoxidation of aryl-substituted olefins (Table 6.10) [139]. Enantioselectivities of up to 83% were obtained in the epoxidation of 1,2-dihydronaphthalene with catalyst 28 and 2,6-DCPNO. Simple olefins such as oct-l-ene reacted poorly and gave epoxides with low enantioselectivity. The use of pybox ligands in ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidations was first reported by Nishiyama et al., who used catalyst 30 in combination with iodosyl benzene, bisacetoxyiodo benzene [PhI(OAc)2], or TBHP for the oxidation of trons-stilbene [140], In their best result, with PhI(OAc)2 as oxidant, they obtained trons-stilbene oxide in 80% yield and with 63% ee. More recently, Beller and coworkers have reexamined this catalytic system, finding that asymmetric epoxidations could be perfonned with ruthenium catalysts 29 and 30 and 30% aqueous hydrogen peroxide (Table 6.11) [141]. Development of the pybox ligand provided ruthenium complex 31, which turned out to be the most efficient catalyst for asymmetric... 

In 2000, these authors also developed a very efficient diphosphine-bithiophene ligand, tetraMe-BITIOP, which is depicted in Scheme 8.29. The ruthenium complex of this electron-rich diphosphine was used as the catalyst in asymmetric hydrogenation reactions of prostereogenic carbonyl functions of a-... 

The use of chiral ruthenium catalysts can hydrogenate ketones asymmetrically in water. The introduction of surfactants into a water-soluble Ru(II)-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones led to an increase of the catalytic activity and reusability compared to the catalytic systems without surfactants.8 Water-soluble chiral ruthenium complexes with a (i-cyclodextrin unit can catalyze the reduction of aliphatic ketones with high enantiomeric excess and in good-to-excellent yields in the presence of sodium formate (Eq. 8.3).9 The high level of enantioselectivity observed was attributed to the preorganization of the substrates in the hydrophobic cavity of (t-cyclodextrin. 

Complexes containing one binap ligand per ruthenium (Fig. 3.5) turned out to be remarkably effective for a wide range of chemical processes of industrial importance. During the 1980s, such complexes were shown to be very effective, not only for the asymmetric hydrogenation of dehydroamino adds [42] - which previously was rhodium s domain - but also of allylic alcohols [77], unsaturated acids [78], cyclic enamides [79], and functionalized ketones [80, 81] - domains where rhodium complexes were not as effective. Table 3.2 (entries 3-5) lists impressive TOF values and excellent ee-values for the products of such reactions. The catalysts were rapidly put to use in industry to prepare, for example, the perfume additive citronellol from geraniol (Table 3.2, entry 5) and alkaloids from cyclic enamides. These developments have been reviewed by Noyori and Takaya [82, 83]. 

Noyori and coworkers reported well-defined ruthenium(II) catalyst systems of the type RuH( 76-arene)(NH2CHPhCHPhNTs) for the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones and imines [94]. These also act via an outer-sphere hydride transfer mechanism shown in Scheme 3.12. The hydride transfer from ruthenium and proton transfer from the amino group to the C=0 bond of a ketone or C=N bond of an imine produces the alcohol or amine product, respectively. The amido complex that is produced is unreactive to H2 (except at high pressures), but readily reacts with iPrOH or formate to regenerate the hydride catalyst. 

Carpentier and coworkers studied the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of /f-keloeslers using chiral ruthenium complexes prepared from [(// -p-cyrriene)-RuC12]2 and chiral aminoalcohols based on norephedrine. During this study, these authors became aware of substrate inhibition when ketoesters carrying 4-halo-substituents were used. It transpired that this was caused by formation of a complex between the substrate and the catalyst [28]. 

In summary, the asymmetric hydrogenation of olefins or functionalized ketones catalysed by chiral transition metal complexes is one of the most practical methods for preparing optically active organic compounds. Ruthenium and rhodium-diphosphine complexes, using molecular hydrogen or hydrogen transfer, are the most common catalysts in this area. The hydrogenation of simple ketones has proved to be difficult with metallic catalysts. However,... 

Enantioselective catalytic hydrogenation. The ruthenium(II) complexes of (R)- and (S)-l, bearing a chiral BINAP ligand, catalyze asymmetric hydrogenation of N-acyl-l-alkylidenetetrahydroisoquinolines to give (1R)- or (lS)-tetrahydroiso-quinolines in 95-100% ee.1 Thus the (Z)-enamide (2), prepared by acylation of 3,4-dihydropapaverine, is hydrogenated in the presence of (R)-l to (1R)-tetrahydroisoquinolines (3). The enantiomeric (lS)-3 is obtained on use of (S)-l as catalyst. 

BINAP-ruthenium dicarboxylate complexes are also efficient catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation of enamides, a,p- and p,y-unsatu rated carboxylic acids, a-amino ketones, and a-acylaminoacrylic acids.1 2 3 4 5... 

R)-BINAP/l,2-diphenylethylenediamine ruthenium(II) complexes covalently attached to polystyrene (Scheme 4.32) promote the asymmetric hydrogenation of aromatic ketones and of a, yS-unsaturated ketones [125]. The catalysts (52) and (53) were reused at high substrate/catalyst molar ratio (S/C) of 2470 in 14 experiments. Remarkably, the enantiopurity of the products remained high after each run, constantly being in the range of 97 to 98% ee. 

In this chapter, we focus on the rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenation and the development of chiral phosphorous ligands for this process. Although there are other chiral phosphorous ligands, which are effective for ruthenium-, iridium-, platinum-, titanium-, zirconium-, and palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation, they are not discussed in this account. However, this does not preclude complexes of other transition metals as effective catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation. Fortunately, there are numerous reviews and books that discuss this particular aspect of asymmetric hydrogenation [3]. 

---