Preparation of pyridinyl aryl methanol derivatives by enantioselective hydrogenation of ketones using chiral Ru(diphosphine)(diamine) complexes. Attribution of their absolute configuration by 1H NMR spectroscopy using Mosher's reagent

Ruthenium-diamine-diphosphine complexes provide highly efficient catalysts for enantioselective hydrogenation of a series of pyridinyl aryl ketones. The hydrogenation proceeds under mild conditions providing chiral pyridinyl aryl methanol derivatives with consistently high yields and moderate to excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee) according to the structure of the chiral diphosphine. NMR studies, based on Mosher's ester derivatisation, allowed to determine the configuration of the major alcohol obtained during asymmetric hydrogenation.