Enantioselective Hydrogenation of Diarylmethanimines for Synthesis of Chiral Diarylmethylamines.

An enantioselective hydrogenation of N-substituted diarylmethanimines under mild conditions has been first realized by using an iridium catalyst with a chiral f-spiroPhos ligand. This method provides an efficient access to the asymmetric synthesis of a variety of chiral diarylmethylamines and their derivatives with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99.4% ee) and high turnover numbers (TON up to 4000).