Enantioselective Catalysis with Tropos Ligands in Chiral Ionic Liquids

Significance

This paper describes the asymmetric hydrogenation in chiral ionic liquid. This homogeneous, rhodium-catalyzed reaction uses tropo­isomeric ligands and derives the chirality for the asymmetric transformation from the ionic liquid. The enantioselectivities for the ‘benchmark’ hydrogenation reaction are only moderate, but the idea behind the study is of true importance. The authors also describe that additives (i.e., Et₃N and water) enhance the selectivity.