Chiral bisphosphine ligands based on quinoline oligoamide foldamers: application in asymmetric hydrogenation.

A series of chiral bisphosphine ligands were designed and synthesized based on single-handed quinoline oligoamide foldamers. The bisphosphine ligands can coordinate with Rh(cod)2BF4 in a 1 : 1 stoichiometry and the resulted chiral Rh(i) catalysts were applied in the asymmetric hydrogenation of α-dehydroamino acid esters, in which excellent conversions and promising levels of enantioselectivity were achieved.