Highly enantioselective hydrogenation of α-aryl-β-substituted acrylic acids catalyzed by Ir-SpinPHOXThis article is part of a ChemComm ‘Catalysis in Organic Synthesis’ web-theme issue showcasing high quality research in organic chemistry. Please see our website (http://www.rsc.org/chemcomm/organicwebtheme2009) to access the other papers in this issue.Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental details and characterization data for all new compounds. See DOI: 10.1039/b919902k

The enantioselective hydrogenation of a series of challenging substrates, α-aryl-β-substituted acrylic acids, was realized with high efficiency and enantioselectivity (up to 96%) under the catalysis of Ir(i) complex of Spiro-based P,Nligand, SpinPHOX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]