Author(s)

Yuan-Zhao Mo, Quan-Jun Wang, Hui-Fang Nie, Qiao-Feng Wang^*

School of Pharmacy, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, China.

Four easily available ferrocenyl chiral ligands have been screened firstly for ruthenium (II)-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of acetophenone with HCOOH/Et₃N azeotrope as the hydrogen source. A moderate chemical yield of 1-phenylethanol with 83% ee was obtained when (R_C, S_Fc)-1-(Diphe-nylphosphino)-2-[1-N-(3-methylpyridin-2-ylmethyl) ethyl] ferrocene (L₁) was used. Particularly, both ruthenium and iridium could coordinate with L₁ to accomplish the asymmetric reduction of series of aromatic ketones separately. The desired products were achieved with up to 86% ee.<

Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation, Ferrocene, Ligand, Ketone

Mo, Y. , Wang, Q. , Nie, H. and Wang, Q. (2018) The Application of New Chiral Ferrocene Ligands in Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation of Ketones. International Journal of Organic Chemistry, 8, 54-83. doi: 10.4236/ijoc.2018.81004.