Novel bidentate N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphine iridium complexes have been synthesized and evaluated in the hydrogenation of ketones. Reported catalytic systems require base additives and, if excluded, need elevated temperature or high pressure of hydrogen gas to achieve satisfactory reactivity. The developed catalysts showed extremely high reactivity and good enantioselectivity under base-free and mild conditions. In the presence of 1 mol % catalyst under 1 bar hydrogen pressure at room temperature, hydrogenation was complete in 30 minutes giving up to 96 % ee. Again, this high reactivity was achieved in additive-free conditions. Mechanistic experiments demonstrated that balloon pressure of hydrogen was sufficient to form the activate species by reducing and eliminating the 1,5-cyclooctadiene ligand. The pre-activated catalyst was able to hydrogenate acetophenone with 89 % conversion in 5 min.

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.

A highly efficient iridium N,P-ligand-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of functionalized tetrasubstituted olefins lacking a directing group has been developed. Various structural diverse chiral succinate derivatives were obtained in high yields and excellent enantio- and diastereoselectivities (up to 99% ee) using 0.5-1.0 mol % catalyst loadings. This stereoselective reaction is applicable for the synthesis of chiral acyclic molecules (up to >99% ee) having two contiguous stereogenic centers and is compatible with various aromatic, aliphatic, and heterocyclic systems, a variety of functional groups of different electronic nature. Furthermore, this asymmetric protocol allows a short enantioselective route to the butyrolactone building block, an intermediate in the synthesis of anticancer agent BMS-871 and pharmaceuticals (2S)-(-)-Verapamil and (2S)-(-)-Gallopamil.

Bismuth(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate [Bi(OTf)(3)] mediated mild electrophilic aromatic formylation utilizing difluoro(phenylsulfanyl)methane (PhSCF2H) as a formylating agent in hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) as a recyclable ionizing solvent has been developed. The active formylating species was generated via C-F bond cleavage and was characterized to be a bis(phenylsulfanyl)methyl cation by experimental and computational H-1 and C-13 NMR.

The synthesis of chiral fluorine containing motifs, in particular, chiral fluorine molecules with two contiguous stereogenic centers, has attracted much interest in research due to the limited number of methods available for their preparation. Herein, we report an atom-economical and highly stereoselective synthesis of chiral fluorine molecules with two contiguous stereogenic centers via azabicyclo iridium-oxazoline-phosphine-catalyzed hydrogenation of readily available vinyl fluorides. Various aromatic, aliphatic, and heterocyclic systems with a variety of functional groups were found to be compatible with the reaction and provide the highly desirable product as single diastereomers with excellent enantioselectivities.

The work described in this thesis is focused on hydrogenation and hydrogen transfer reactions using iridium catalysts. The first part concerns the use of N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphine iridium complexes in alkylation reactions (Chapters 2 and 3) and the hydrogenation of ketones (Chapter 4). A number of N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphine iridium complexes have been prepared and evaluated as catalysts for C-N bond formation of amides using alcohols as the electrophile. This catalytic system can be used with a wide range of substrates at low catalyst loading (only 0.5 mol%) to furnish the desired products in up to 98% isolated yield. The achiral N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphine iridium complexes were also found to catalyze the methylation of ketones with methanol under mild conditions to afford the mono-methylated products in up to 98% isolated yield with low catalyst loading (1.0 mol%). Additionally, several chiral N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphine iridium complexes were synthesized and evaluated in asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones. The reactions were carried out at room temperature under base-free conditions to obtain the chiral alcohols in up to 96% ee in 30 minutes.

The second part of this thesis (Chapter 5) details the preparation of new N,P-iridium complexes which were found to be highly efficient catalysts for the asymmetric hydrogenation of challenging tetrasubstituted olefins. This catalytic system results in optically active compounds of high enantiomeric excess (up to 98% ee) as the single diasteroisomer.

The mechanism for the iridium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral imines has been investigated for an experimentally relevant ligand substrate combination using DFT calculations. The possible stereoisomers of the stereodetermining hydride transfer transition state were considered for four possible hydrogenation mechanisms starting from the recently disclosed active catalyst consisting of iridium phosphine-oxazoline with cyclometalated imine substrate. The hydrogenation was found to proceed via an outer sphere pathway. The transition state accurately describes the experimental observations of the active catalyst and provides a structural rationale for the high stereoinduction despite the lack of direct interaction points in the outer-sphere mechanism. The predicted enantioselectivity was consistent with experimental observations. Experimental studies support the hypothesis that the iridacycle forms spontaneously and functions as the active catalyst in the hydrogenation.

A number of cyclic olefins Were prepared and evaluated for the asymmetric hydrogenation reaction using novel N,P-ligated iridium imidazote-based Catalysts (Crabtree type). The diversity of these cyclic olefins spanned those having little functionality to others bearing strongly coordinating substituents and heterocycles. Excellent enantioselectivities were observed both for substrates having little functionality (up to >99% ee) and for substrates possessing functional groups several carbons away from the olefin. Substrates having functionalities such as carboxyl groups, alcohols, or heterocycles in the vicinity of the C=C bond were hydrogenated in high enantiomeric excess (up to >99% ee). The hydrogenation was also found to be regioselective, and by controlling the reaction conditions, selective hydrogenation of one of two trisubstituted olefins can be achieved: Furthermore, trisubstituted olefins can be selectively hydrogenated in the presence of tetrasubstituted olefins.

An N-heterocyclic carbene–phosphine iridium complex system was found to be a very efficient catalyst for the methylation of ketone via a hydrogen transfer reaction. Mild conditions together with low catalyst loading (1 mol %) were used for a tandem process which involves the dehydrogenation of methanol, CC bond formation with a ketone, and hydrogenation of the new generated double bond by iridium hydride to give the alkylated product. Using this iridium catalyst system, a number of branched ketones were synthesized with good to excellent conversions and yields.

N-heterocyclic carbene-phosphine iridium complexes (NHC-Ir) were developed/found to be a highly reactive catalyst for N-monoalkylation of amides with alcohols via hydrogen transfer. The reaction produced the desired product in high isolated yields using a wide range of substrates with low catalyst loading and short reaction times.