Hydrogenation of aldehydes, esters, imines, and ketones catalyzed by a ruthenium complex of a chiral tridentate ligand

A novel ruthenium complex prepared from a chiral tridentate amine functionalized phosphine has been characterized by X-ray crystallography and been found to be active in the hydrogenation of an unprecedented range of CO and CN double bonds, including the enantioselective hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation of normally unreactive bulky ketones with up to 90% ee.