Highly Enantioselective Iridium-Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Conjugated Trisubstituted Enones

Asymmetric hydrogenation of conjugated enones is one of the most efficient and straightforward methods to prepare optically active ketones. In this study, chiral bidentate IrN,P complexes were utilized to access these scaffolds for ketones bearing the stereogenic center at both the alpha- and beta-positions. Excellent enantiomeric excesses, of up to 99%, were obtained, accompanied with good to high isolated yields. Challenging dialkyl substituted substrates, which are difficult to hydrogenate with satisfactory chiral induction, were hydrogenated in a highly enantioselective fashion.

Automated summary

Asymmetric hydrogenation of conjugated enones using chiral bidentate IrN,P complexes allowed for the preparation of ketones with stereogenic centers at both the alpha- and beta-positions, achieving high enantiomeric excesses of up to 99% and good to high isolated yields even with challenging dialkyl substituted substrates.