Highly enantioselective Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation based on phosphine-phosphite ligands derived from carbohydrates.

A new class of efficient catalysts was developed for the asymmetric hydrogenation of alpha,beta-unsaturated carboxylic acid derivatives by synthesizing a series of novel phosphine-phosphite ligands (4a-d) derived from readily available D-(+)-xylose. Excellent enantioselectivities (> 99%) were achieved under very mild reaction conditions (1 bar H(2) and 20 degrees C). Varying the biphenyl substituents in the phosphite moiety greatly affected the enantioselectivity in the hydrogenation reactions. The results also indicate that the sense of enantioselectivity is mainly controlled by the configuration of the phosphite moiety. (31)P[(1)H] NMR and kinetic studies on intermediates of the catalytic cycle show that the [Rh(P(1)-P(2))(enamide)]BF(4) species is the resting state and that the rate dependence is first order in rhodium and hydrogen pressure and zero order in enamide concentration.