Iridium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation : development of New N,P ligands and hydrogenation of alkenyl boronic esters

The aim of this thesis was the development of new N,P ligands for iridium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenations and evaluation of alkenyl boronic esters as substrates for this transformation. Initially, a concise synthetic route towards bicyclic pyridine-phosphinite ligand complexes was implemented. The middle section is mainly dedicated to structural modifications of the N,P ligand scaffold, in order to tune the activity and the selectivity. Those N,P ligand complexes were identified as a highly active and selective systems for the enantioselective hydrogenation of trisubstituted boronic esters. While on the other hand a member of the phosphinite-imidazoline ligand complexes provided the best results for the asymmetric reduction of terminal vinyl boronic esters. Finally the synthesis of those ligand complexes is described.