Synthesis and characterization of chiral phosphinite compounds and their transition metal complexes and investigation of their catalytic activity

Asymmetric transfer hydrogenation with chiral transition metal complexes is one of the best and the most practical methods due to several advantages, such as facile applicability, usableness for a wide range of substrates and providing almost excellent selectivity. The most popular ligands employed in asymmetric catalysis are phosphines. The common feature of the ligands used for this purpose is to have a C2 symmetry axis. Although there have been many reports on these type ligands and their transition metal complexes, there are only a few studies on their bisphosphinite analogues.In the present study, aminoacids containing different alkyl or aryl moieties were reduced into their corresponding chiral aminoalcohols. The chiral azadiols were synthesized by the reaction of the chiral aminoalcohols with 1,2-dibromoethane. The new chiral phosphonites having C2 symmetry were prepared by reacting the azadiols wih Ph2PCl. Ru(II) metal complexes of the chiral phosphinite ligands were synthesized in-situ and their catalytic activity in asymmetric transfer hydrogenation were investigated in the reaction of acetophenone derivatives with isopropyl alcohol.