Mechanism of Asymmetric Hydrogenation of Aromatic Ketones Catalyzed by a Combined System of Ru(π-CH2C(CH3)CH2)2(cod) and the Chiral sp2N/sp3NH Hybrid Linear N4 Ligand Ph-BINAN-H-Py

The combination of a GoodwinLions-type chiral N4 ligand, (R)-Ph-BINAN-H-Py ((R)-3,3'-diphenyl-N-2,N-2'-bis((pyridin-2-yl)methyl)-1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diamine; L), with Ru(pi-CH2C(CH3)CH2)(2)(cod) (A) (cod = 1,5-cyclooctadiene) catalyzes the hydrogenation of acetophenone (AP) to (R)-1-phenylethanol (PE) with a high enantiomer ratio (er). Almost no Ru complex forms, with A and L remaining intact throughout the reaction while generating PE quantitatively according to [PE] = k(obst)(2). An infinitesimal amount of reactive and unstable RuH2L (B) with C-2-gamma-cis-a stereochemistry is very slowly and irreversibly generated from A by the action of H-2 and L, which rapidly catalyzes the hydrogenation of AP via Noyoris donoracceptor bifunctional mechanism. A CH-pi-stabilized Si-face selective transition state, C-Si, gives (R)-PE together with an intermediary Ru amide, D, which is inhibited predominantly by formation of the Ru enolate of AP. The rate-determining hydrogenolysis of D completes the cycle. The time-squared term relates both to the preliminary step before the cycle and to the cycle itself, with a highly unusual eight-order difference in the generation and turnover frequency of B. This mechanism is fully supported by a series of experiments including a detailed kinetic study, rate law analysis, simulation of t/[PE] curves with fitting to the experimental observations at the initial reaction stage, X-ray crystallographic analyses of B-related octahedral metal complexes, and Hammett plot analyses of electronically different substrates and ligands in their enantioselectivities.