Enantioselective transfer hydrogenation of various ketones with novel efficient iridium(III) ferrocenyl-phosphinite catalysts

•A series of novel neutral mononuclear iridium(III) ferrocenyl-phosphinite complexes have been synthesized.•The complexes were applied in the iridium(III)-catalyzed ATH of aromatic ketones to give corresponding secondary alcohols.•Up to 99% conversion and 99% ee were achieved with these catalytic systems.•Substituents on the backbone of the ligands exhibited a significant effect on both the activity and % enantioselectivity.

The asymmetric reduction of prochiral ketones is a pivotal reaction for the preparation of chiral alcohols which form an extremely important class of intermediates for fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Especially, iridium-based asymmetric reduction of ketones to enantiomerically enriched alcohols has recently attracted important attention by a number of research groups and interest in this area is growing. Therefore, a series of novel neutral mononuclear iridium(III) ferrocenyl-phosphinite complexes have been prepared and applied in the iridium(III)-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation (ATH) of ketones to give corresponding secondary alcohols with outstanding enantioselectivities and reactivities using 2-propanol as the hydrogen source (up to 99% ee and 99% conversion). It was seen that the substituents on the backbone of the ligands resulted in a significant effect on both the activity and % enantioselectivity. Furthermore, the structural elucidation of the complexes was carried out by elemental analysis, IR and multi-nuclear NMR spectroscopic data.

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