Nickel-Catalyzed Chemoselective Asymmetric Hydrogenation of α,β<i>-</i>Unsaturated Ketoimines: An Efficient Approach to Chiral Allylic Amines

Abstract

An efficient synthetic route to chiral allylic amines has been developed by nickel/(<i>S,S</i>)-Ph-BPE complex catalyzed chemoselective asymmetric hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated ketoimines. Varieties of α,β-unsaturated ketoimines have been well tolerated in this transformation to give chiral allylic amines with high yields and excellent ee values (up to 99% yield, up to 99% ee). A gram-scale reaction with 0.2 mol % catalyst loading has also been achieved.