CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · SynOpen 2021; 05(01): 36-42
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1706022
letter

Chemoselective Transfer Hydrogenation of α,β-Unsaturated Ketones Catalyzed by Iridium Complexes

Yanping Xia
,
Lu Ouyang
,
Jianhua Liao
,
Xiao Yang
,
Renshi Luo
The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21962004 and 21562004), the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology (Grant No. 20192BAB203004), the Fundamental Research Funds for Gannan Medical University (Grant No. QD201810), and the COVID-19 Emergency Project of Gannan Medical University (Grant No. YJ202027) for financial support.


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Abstract

Efficient chemoselective transfer hydrogenation of the C=C bond of α,β-unsaturated ketones has been developed, using the iridium complexes containing pyridine-imidazolidinyl ligands as catalysts and formic acid as a hydrogen source. In comparison with organic solvents or H2O as solvent, the mixed solvents of H2O and MeOH are critical for a high catalytic chemoselective transformation. This chemoselective transfer hydrogenation can be carried out in air, which is operationally simple, allowing a wide variety of α,β-unsaturated substrates with different functional groups (electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents) leading to chemoselective transfer hydrogenation in excellent yields. The practical application of this protocol is demonstrated by a gram-scale transformation.

Supporting Information



Publication History

Received: 29 December 2020

Accepted after revision: 26 January 2020

Article published online:
08 February 2021

© 2020. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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