title: Air-stable catalysts for highly efficient and enantioselective hydrogenation of aromatic ketones.
abstract: A series of chiral trans-[RuCl(2)(dipyridylphosphine)(1,2-diamine)] complexes have been synthesized and characterized by NMR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. These Ru complexes combined with (CH(3))(3)COK in 2-propanol formed a very effective catalyst system for the hydrogenation of a diverse range of simple aromatic ketones with high activity (substrate-to-catalyst ratio up to 100 000) and excellent enantioselectivity (up to >99.9%). The catalyst system was also found to be stable in solution even under a normal atmosphere.
authors.affiliation: Open Laboratory of Chirotechnology of the Institute of Molecular Technology for Drug Discovery and Synthesis, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Waihim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kwok
authors.forename: Rongwei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Zhongyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Chihung
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Albert S C
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Chan