Enantioconvergent catalysis has the potential to convert different isomers of a starting material to a single highly enantioenriched product. Here we report a novel enantioselective double convergent 1,3-rearrangement/hydrogenation of allylic alcohols using an Ir-N,P catalyst. A variety of allylic alcohols, each consisting of a 1:1:1:1 mixture of four isomers, were converted to the corresponding tertiary alcohols with two contiguous stereogenic centers, in up to 99% ee and 99:1 d.r. DFT calculations, and control experiments suggest that the 1,3-rearrangement is the crucial stereodetermining element of the reaction. 

The work presented in this thesis is focused on asymmetric synthesis and mechanistic insights of hydrogenations catalyzed by Ir-N,P- and Rh-diphosphine complexes. The developed methodologies provide an efficient catalytic system to access optically enriched compounds by exploiting the effect of the N,P ligand structure and investigating the enantioconvergent behavior.

The first part of the work presented (Chapter 2) is focused on the stereoselective synthesis of chiral fluorinated compounds with one or two contiguous stereogenic centers. New N,P ligands were prepared and investigated. In the first project, 1,2-fluorohydrins were synthesized in high enantioselectivity. In the second project, fluoroalkenes with and without an adjacent carbonyl group were both hydrogenated successfully. In the third project, organofluorine compounds having two contiguous stereogenic centers were prepared in excellent diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity. Notably, the frequently observed side reaction of defluorination was addressed, and only minor or negligible defluorination was observed.

In the second part (Chapter 3), a wide range of variously substituted isomeric enamide mixtures were hydrogenated in excellent ees. Both E and Z isomers gave the same enantiomer with similar level of enantioselectivities. Experimental and Density functional theory (DFT) studies revealed that different mechanistic pathways are operative for the different classes of substrates. DFT studies gave a better understanding of the enantioconvergent hydrogenation.

Chapter 4 focuses on the enantioconvergent isomerization-hydrogenation of allylic alcohols. A variety of allylic alcohols, each consisting of a mixture of four isomers, were converted to the corresponding tertiary alcohols with up to 99% ee and 99:1 d.r. DFT calculations and control experiments revealed that the 1,3-rearrangement is the crucial stereodetermining element of the reaction. A rationale that explains the origin of selectivity for this enantioconvergent hydrogenation was also proposed.

The final part (Chapter 5) is focused on the asymmetric reduction of arenes using the classical Rh-diphosphine catalyst. A duality of the commonly used Rh precursor was discovered and resulted in an asymmetric hydrogenation of arenes via cascade hydrogenation or direct hydrogenation. The generality was evaluated and showed high compatibility between Rh-diphosphine catalytic system and a number of different substrates.

Fluoromethyl groups possess specific steric and electronic properties and serve as a bioisostere of alcohol, thiol, nitro, and other functional groups, which are important in an assortment of molecular recognition processes. Herein we report a catalytic method for the asymmetric synthesis of a variety of enantioenriched products bearing fluoromethylated stereocenters with excellent yields and enantioselectivities. Various N,P-ligands were designed and applied in the hydrogenation of fluoromethylated olefins and vinyl fluorides.

A N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphine iridium complex is presented for the efficient and selective mono-N-alkylation of sulfonamides with alcohols based on a borrowing hydrogenation strategy. Herein, water is the only by-product and this methodology thus offers a more environmentally benign and interesting alternative to the use of traditional alkylating reagents. This facile protocol tolerates a large number of (hetero) aromatic and aliphatic sulfonamides as well as (hetero) aromatic and aliphatic alcohols to obtain the desired product is high isolated yield (up to 98%). The alkylation completely retards after the formation of the secondary sulfonamide and no over-alkylation was observed in all cases. The option to run the reaction under solvent-free conditions as well as the scalability of this borrowing hydrogenation are key features of this protocol.

A solid amino-supported palladium catalyst is used in an oxidative domino reaction for the diastereoselective construction of alkyne-substituted cyclopentenol compounds. This heterogeneous catalyst exhibits high efficiency and excellent chemoselectivity, as well as good recyclability. The chemoselectivity of the domino reactions was readily controlled by switching the solvent and catalyst. Asymmetric syntheses and an oxidative carbocyclization-borylation reaction have also been developed based on the heterogeneous palladium catalyst.

Homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyzed reactions can seldom operate synergistically under the same conditions. Here we communicate the use of a single rhodium precursor that acts in both the homogeneous and heterogeneous phases for the asymmetric full saturation of vinylarenes that, to date, constitute an unmet bottleneck in the field. A simple asymmetric hydrogenation of a styrenic olefin, enabled by a ligand accelerated effect, accounted for the facial selectivity in the consecutive arene hydrogenation. Tuning the ratio between the phosphine ligand and the rhodium precursor controlled the formation of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic species that operate without interference from each other. The system is flexible in terms of both the chiral ligand and the nature of the external olefin. We anticipate that our findings will promote the development of asymmetric arene hydrogenations.

We present a highly efficient convergent asymmetric hydrogenation of E/Z mixtures of enamides catalyzed by N,P–iridium complexes supported by mechanistic studies. It was found that reduction of the olefinic isomers (E and Z geometries) produces chiral amides with the same absolute configuration (enantioconvergent hydrogenation). This allowed the hydrogenation of a wide range of E/Z mixtures of trisubstituted enamides with excellent enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee). A detailed mechanistic study using deuterium labeling and kinetic experiments revealed two different pathways for the observed enantioconvergence. For α-aryl enamides, fast isomerization of the double bond takes place, and the overall process results in kinetic resolution of the two isomers. For α-alkyl enamides, no double bond isomerization is detected, and competition experiments suggested that substrate chelation is responsible for the enantioconvergent stereochemical outcome. DFT calculations were performed to predict the correct absolute configuration of the products and strengthen the proposed mechanism of the iridium-catalyzed isomerization pathway.

The control of site selectivity in asymmetric mono-hydrogenation of dienes or polyenes remains largely underdeveloped. Herein, we present a highly efficient desymmetrization of 1,4-dienes via iridium-catalyzed site- and enantioselective hydrogenation. This methodology demonstrates the first iridium-catalyzed hydrogenative desymmetriation of meso dienes and provides a concise approach to the installation of two vicinal stereogenic centers adjacent to an alkene. High isolated yields (up to 96 %) and excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities (up to 99:1 d.r. and 99 % ee) were obtained for a series of divinyl carbinol and divinyl carbinamide substrates. DFT calculations reveal that an interaction between the hydroxy oxygen and the reacting hydride is responsible for the stereoselectivity of the desymmetrization of the divinyl carbinol. Based on the calculated energy profiles, a model that simulates product distribution over time was applied to show an intuitive kinetics of this process. The usefulness of the methodology was demonstrated by the synthesis of the key intermediates of natural products zaragozic acid A and (+)-invictolide.

We have developed a simple protocol for the preparation of 1,2-fluorohydrin by asymmetric hydrogenation of fluorinated allylic alcohols using an efficient azabicyclo thiazole-phosphine iridium complex. The iridium-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of chiral 1,2-fluorohydrin molecules was carried out at ambient temperature with operational simplicity, and scalability. This method was compatible with various aromatic, aliphatic, and heterocyclic fluorinated compounds as well as a variety of polyfluorinated compounds, providing the corresponding products in excellent yields and enantioselectivities.

The development of new general methods for the synthesis of chiral fluorine-containing molecules is important for several scientific disciplines. We herein disclose a straightforward method for the preparation of chiral organofluorine molecules that is based on the iridium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of trisubstituted alkenyl fluorides. This catalytic asymmetric process enables the synthesis of chiral fluorine molecules with or without carbonyl substitution. Owing to the tunable steric and electronic properties of the azabicyclo thiazole-phosphine iridium catalyst, this stereoselective reaction could be optimized and was found to be compatible with various aromatic, aliphatic, and heterocyclic systems with a variety of functional groups, providing the highly desirable products in excellent yields and enantioselectivities.