Dosage delivery of chiral ruthenium catalysts using non-ionic surfactants for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation reactions in aqueous media

In this study, non-ionic surfactants, namely Synperonic (R) F108 and Tween (R) F108, were used as media to dissolve [RuCl(p-cymene)(R,R)-Ts-DPEN] for the dosage delivery and recycling of chiral ruthenium catalysts in asymmetric transfer hydrogenation reactions of ketones in water. The non-ionic surfactant-based catalytic systems bearing ruthenium catalysts in microgram scale can be used directly to conduct transfer hydrogenation reactions in nano-sized micelle structures (60-90 nm) in water under an air atmosphere. The micellar catalyst in the aqueous phase can be recycled from the reaction mixture and can be used up to 8 times in asymmetric transfer hydrogenation reactions of acetophenone.

Automated summary

In this study, non-ionic surfactants were used as media to dissolve chiral ruthenium catalysts for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation reactions of ketones in water. The experimental results showed that microgram-scale surfactant-based catalytic systems can be directly used in nano-sized micelle structures for multiple recycling.