Ruthenium aminophosphine catalysts RuCl2(aminophosphine)2 and RuCl2(diphosphine)(aminophosphine) for the hydrogenation of ketones and imines

INOR 843

Kamaluddin Abdur-Rashid, kamal@kctchem.com, Rongwei Guo, Wenli Jia, and Xuanhua Chen. Catalysis Division, Kanata Chemical Technologies Inc, 101 College Street, Office 230, South Tower, Toronto, ON M5G 1L7, Canada
The production of alcohols and amines through catalytic hydrogenation of ketones, aldehydes and imines represents a fundamental and valuable process in synthetic organic and organometallic chemistry. Our discovery and development of several classes of aminophosphine ligands and their bifunctional transition metal catalysts for hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation will be described. Our research efforts directed towards establishing broad ligand and catalyst portfolios for these processes and their use for high chemoselective and asymmetric production of a range of commercially valuable products, including fragrances, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals will be discussed. The structures of the various catalysts and how these can be readily manipulated for the optimization of activity and selectivity will also be described.