Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, St. Johanns Ring 19, 4056 Basel (Switzerland), Fax: (+41)?61‐267‐1103
Abstract:
Optically active tertiary amines are readily prepared by iridium‐catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of unfunctionalized enamines (see scheme). The best enantioselectivities with >90 % ee were obtained with N‐aryl‐ and N‐benzyl‐substituted enamines with a terminal double bond. The hydrogenation of enamines derived from cyclic ketones, which has not been reported yet with other catalysts, gave enantiomeric excesses of up to 87 %.
