Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation of Cyclic Imines and Iminiums

Significance

The current demand for environmentally friendly procedures in organic chemistry leads to the development of reactions in non-organic media. In particular, catalytic synthesis with water-soluble ligands and their metal complexes displays many advantages such as easy product separation and ligand recycling. In the present paper, the asymmetric hydrogenation of cyclic imines and iminiums is described. Sodium formate acts as the hydrogen source, CTAB as a surfactant and an analogous catalyst system to the one developed by Noyori is used (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 4916-4917), but with a water-soluble diamine ligand.