Recent topics in catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones

Asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones (AHK) was revolutionized in 1987 and again in 1995 when Ru(CH3COO)2(binap)/HCl and RuCl2(binap)/diamine, respectively, were developed. Since then, the number of reports on Ru-catalyzed AHK has increased exponentially, and the utility of other precious metals (Os, Rh, Ir, and Pd) has also been shown. The utilization of inexpensive base metals (Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu) has been a recent trend. This digest summarizes the key advances in AHK in the past decade by categorizing the chiral ligands into six types: (i) diphosphines, (ii) diphosphines/diamines, (iii) tridentate or tetradentate phosphine amines, (iv) diamines, (v) tetradentate amines, and (vi) tetradentate thioether amines.