Search

A novel full atom-economic process for the transformation of alkynes into chiral alcohols by TfOH-catalyzed hydration coupled with Ru-catalyzed tandem asymmetric hydrogenation in TFE under simple conditions has been developed. A range of chiral alcohols was obtained with broad functional group tolerance, good yields, and excellent stereoselectivities.

A highly enantioselective transfer hydrogenation of non-ortho-substituted aryl N-heteroaryl ketones, using readily available chiral diamine-derived iridium complex (S,S)-1fas a catalyst and sodium formate as a hydrogen source in a mixture of H2O/i-PrOH (v/v = 1:1) under ambient conditions, is described. The chiral aryl N-heteroaryl methanols were obtained with up to 98.2% ee by introducing an N-oxide as a removable ortho-substituent. In contrast, no more than 15.1% ee was observed in the absence of an N-oxide moiety. Furthermore, the practical utility of this protocol was also demonstrated by gram-scale asymmetric synthesis of bepotastine besilate in 51% total yield and 99.9% ee.