Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.130, No.3, 808-808, 2008
Catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of 2,3,5-trisubstituted pyrroles
Catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of N-Boc-protected pyrroles proceeded with high enantioselectivity, by using a ruthenium catalyst modified with a trans-chelating chiral bisphosphine PhTRAP. The ruthenium catalyst prepared from Ru(eta 3-methallyl)(2)(cod) and (S,S)-(R,R)-PhTRAP in the presence of triethylamine was the most enantioselective for the asymmetric hydrogenation of methyl pyrrole-2-carboxylate, giving the desired (S)-proline derivative with 79% ee in 92% yield. Moreover, 2,3,5-trisubstituted pyrroles bearing a large substituent at the 5-position were hydrogenated with 93-99.7% ee. The asymmetric reduction of 4,5-dimethylpyrrole-2-carboxylate gave only all-cis isomer and created three chiral centers with high degree of stereocontrol in a single process. This is the first highly enantioselective reduction of pyrroles.