Enantioselective Hydrogenation of Imines Using a Diverse Library of Ruthenium Dichloride(diphosphine)(diamine) Precatalysts

Abstract

Abstract A range of aromatic and cyclic imines were subjected to asymmetric hydrogenation with catalysts derived from complexes of the type RuCl 2 (diphosphine)(diamine). Good to high enantioselectivities were observed. For each imine, a library of chiral complexes based on different diphosphine and diamine combinations was screened. A different combination of diphosphine and diamine was required each time to obtain the optimum enantioselectivity.