Efficient Ru(II)-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of simple ketones with C2-symmetric planar chiral metallocenyl phosphinooxazoline ligands

C2-symmetric metallocenyl planar phosphinooxazoline ligands (2 and 3) have been applied in the Ru(II)-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of simple ketones. This type of ligands enjoys the advantages of dual reaction sites as well as larger steric hindrance than their corresponding C1-symmetric counterparts. As a result, almost quantitative conversions and excellent enantioselectivities were obtained for a series of simple ketones. Under the optimal reaction conditions, up to 99.7% ee was obtained in many cases. It was also confirmed that hydrogen rather than reaction solvent i-PrOH is at work in the hydrogenation procedure.