H8-MonoPhos and its application in catalytic enantioselective hydrogenation of α-dehydroamino acids

H8-MonoPhos, a new stable and readily soluble monodentate phosphoramidite ligand, has been facilely prepared from H8-BINOL. The ligand achieved up to 99.9% ee and 96.7% ee in hydrogenation of dehydroalanine and dehydrohomophenylalanine in a S/C ratio of 500:1, respectively, which are among the best results to date. For dehydrophenylalanine derivatives, it gave good to excellent enantioselectivity. Some factors controlling the enantioselectivity and conversion were examined and are discussed. The interesting effects of ligand/rhodium ratio on the enantioselectivity and conversion were observed, which a mechanism was proposed to explain.