AbstractA practical procedure has been developed for efficient synthesis of chiral aromatic spiroketals and the relevant diphosphine ligands. The procedure includes first asymmetric hydrogenation of readily available α,α′‐bis(2‐benzyloxyarylidene) ketones catalyzed by the Ir(I)/SpinPHOX (S,S)‐1a (0.5–1 mol%) and subsequent hydrogenative deprotection of the resultant benzyl ethers catalyzed by palladium on carbon (Pd/C), as well as simultaneous spiroketalization of the corresponding diphenolic ketones by (S,S)‐1a in one pot. The corresponding chiral aromatic spiroketals (R,R,R)‐4a–j have been obtained in high yields (77–94%) with good diastereoselectivities (trans/cis=81/19 to 96/4), and excellent enantioselectivities for the trans products (97–>99% ee). In addition, the reaction of aromatic spiroketal difluoride (R,R,R)‐4b with potassiodiarylphosphide (KPAr2) in refluxing tertahydrofuran (THF) has also provided an alternative and practical synthesis of chiral spiroketal‐based diphosphine (SKP) ligands in 78–95% yields on multigram scale.magnified image
Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of Aromatic Spiroketals by SpinPhox/Iridium(I)-Catalyzed Hydrogenation and Spiroketalization of α,α′-Bis(2-hydroxyarylidene) Ketones
From spiro to spiro: An iridium(I) complex with a spiral P,N ligand (SpinPhox) is highly efficient in the catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of α,α′‐bis(2‐hydroxyarylidene) ketones to afford the corresponding aromatic spiroketals in high yields with excellent diastereo‐ and enantioselectivities (see scheme). The complex plays a dualrole in the reaction, acting as catalyst for both the hydrogenation