ENANTIOSELECTIVE HYDROGENATION OF SIMPLE KETONES

Enantioselective reduction of prochiral ketones to optically active se condary alcohols is an important, fundamental subject in synthetic org anic chemistry, because the resulting chiral alcohols are versatile bu ilding blocks for synthesis of natural or unnatural biological active compounds as well as functional materials. Asymmetric hydrogenation is particularly useful for a large-scale reduction because of the operat ional simplicity, economical advantage, and environmental consciousnes s. Enantioselective hydrogenation of simple ketones which have no hete roatoms near carbonyl groups has remained difficult. This review descr ibes the recent development in this area. Certain chiral Ru(II) comple xes exhibit an excellent catalytic activity and enantiodifferentiation ability in asymmetric hydrogenation of simple ketones in homogeneous phase.