Enantioselective Hydrogenation of Acetophenone over Cinchonidine-Stabilized and Supported Rhodium Clusters

Because of the importance of the chirality in chemicals in everyday, the synthesis of enantiomerically pure chiral compounds has become an important academic and commercial advantage. In asymmetric synthesis field, enantioselective catalysis has been the most challenging subject over the past decades. Among the numerous enantioselective heterogeneous catalysts, the rhodium is always an unsuccessful example under favorable reaction conditions with only 20%-30% enantiomeric excess (e.e.)^1].And almost all of papers about heterogeneous enantioselective catalysis have reported that rhodium is not suitable for heterogeneous enantioselective hydrogenation^1-3].