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[structure: see text] The role played by the electronic properties and the steric features of bis(oxazoline) ligands in the Cu(I)-catalyzed cyclopropanation of styrene effected with ethyl diazoacetate was investigated. Two pairs of new bis(oxazolines) displaying flexible and atropisomeric 3,3'-bithiophene backbones were synthesized and structurally and electronically characterized. For the first time, the electrochemical oxidative potential was used as a reliable index of the electronic density on the nitrogen atom of the chelating groups of new and, for comparative purposes, of already known bis(oxazolines). The Cu(I) complexes of the new ligands were prepared, and their enantioselection ability and catalytic efficiency were tested. This investigation suggests that steric factors and catalyst geometrical features are clearly more important than any consideration of the electronic properties of the chiral ligands.

Racemic (+/-)-3,3'-bis(diphenylphosphinyl)-1,1'-dimethyl-2, 2'-biindole (1c) (N-Me-2-BINPO) and (+/-)-3, 3'-bis(diphenylphosphinyl)-1,1'-bis(methoxymethyl)-2,2'-biindole (1d) (N-MOM-2-BINPO) were synthesized in satisfactory yields following a three-step reaction sequence, starting from indole. Resolution of racemic 1c and 1d was achieved through fractional crystallization of their diastereomeric adducts with optically active dibenzoyl tartaric acids, followed by alkaline decomplexation of the diastereomerically pure salts. Their trichlorosilane reduction gave enantiopure phosphines (+)- and (-)-(1a) (N-Me-2-BINP) and (+)- and (-)-(1b) (N-MOM-2-BINP). The electrochemical oxidative potential of 1a and 1b was found to be 0. 52 and 0.60 V, respectively. Both the enantiomers of (1a) were tested as ligands of Ru(II) in asymmetric hydrogenation reactions of alpha- and beta-oxoesters. Reactions were found to be outstandingly fast and enantioselection quite good. Comparative kinetic experiments on the hydrogenation reaction of methyl acetoacetate carried out with 1a, 1c, BINAP, and other biheteroaromatic diphosphines as ligands of Ru(II) demonstrated that all the reactions follow a first-order kinetic. A linear relationship was found between the kinetic constant log and the electrochemical oxidative potential of the diphosphine ligand.

[reaction: see text] The 2,5-dimethyl-3,4-bis[(2R,5R)-2,5-dimethylphospholano]thiophene (UlluPHOS), a new thiophene-based analogue of (R,R)-1,2-bis(phospholano)benzene (Me-DuPHOS), was synthesized, geometrically and electronically characterized, and employed as ligand of Rh and Ru in some standard hydrogenation reactions of prostereogenic functionalized carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen double bonds. The synthesis of UlluPHOS is much easier than that provided for Me-DuPHOS. UlluPHOS and Me-DuPHOS display very similar geometries, while the electronic availability of the former is higher than that exhibited by the latter. The Rh and Ru complexes of UlluPHOS produced excellent enantiomeric excesses (98.9-99.5%) in the hydrogenation of N-acetyl-alpha-enamino acids and reaction rates higher than those found when employing the analogous complexes of Me-DuPHOS.

The synthesis and application of three examples of a new class of chiral (C(2)) atropisomeric diphosphines characterized by two interconnected five-membered heteroaromatic rings, with hindered rotation around the interanular bond, are described. Optically pure (+)- and (-)-2,2'-bis(diphenylphosphino)-4,4',6,6'-tetramethyl-3,3'-bibenzo[b]thiophene (tetraMe-bitianp) (1a) and the parent unsubstituted system (+)- and (-)-bitianp (1b) were synthesized. They were found to be optically stable at 100 degrees C and were successfully employed as ligands in the Ru(II)-catalyzed hydrogenation of alpha- and beta-oxo esters to the corresponding alpha- and beta-hydroxy esters and in the hydrogenation of olefinic substrates. The optical and chemical yields were comparable with those reported for the same Ru(II)-binap-catalyzed reactions carried out under the same experimental conditions. The 2,2'-bis(diphenylphosphino)-3,3'-bibenzo[b]furan (1c), the oxygenated analogue of bitianp, was found to be configurationally unstable at room temperature. Complete structural X-ray elucidation of the Pd complexes of 1a-c is reported. The advantages of these biheteroaromatic ligands over the classical biaryl systems are discussed.