Structural requirements in chiral diphosphine-rhodium complexes-XIII¹ 1 Part XII. R. Glaser, S. Geresh, M. Twaik and N.L. Benoiton, Tetrahedron 34, 3617 (1978). Steric and electronic factors in the asymmetric homogeneous hydrogenation of Z-α-acylaminocinnamic acids and esters catalyzed by rhodium(I) complexes

Z-α-acylaminocinnamic acids and esters were hydrogenated with rhodium(I) complexes containing (4R,5R) - trans - 4,5 - bis(diphenylphosphinomethyl) - 2,2 - dimethyl - 1,3 - dioxolan (DIOP). Increasing the steric bulk of the acyl function (NHCOR, where R is an alkyl moiety) resulted in a lowered reduction of the si-re prochiral face to yield a decreasing excess of the (R)-amino acid derivatives. In the series of N-acylphenylalanine free acids (resulting from hydrogenation of Z-α-acylaminocinnamic acids) the optical purity decreased from 82% ee-(R) [Me]; 57% ee-(R) [i-Pr]; 52% ee-(R) [t-Bu]; to 46% ee-(R) [1-adamantyl]. Theα-benzamido, α-formamido and α-trifluoroacetamido substrates gave hydrogenation products having 68% ee-(R) [Ph]; 60% ee-(R) [H]; and 16% ee-(R)[CF₃]. In the corresponding methyl esters, increasing the steric bulk of the acyl function (NHCOR) resulted in a markedly greater decrease in enantioface differentiation. In the series of N-acylphenylalanine methyl ester products (resulting from hydrogenation of Z-methyl α-acylaminocinnamates) the optical purity decreased from 69% ee-(R)[Me]; 15% ee-(R) [i-Pr]; to 0% ee[t-Bu and 1-adamantyl]. The α-benzamido, α-formamido, and α-trifluoroacetamido substrates gave hydrogenation products having 36% ee-(R) [Ph]; 58% ee-(R) [H]; and 22% ee-(S) [CF₃]. In the series of N-acetylphenylalanine alkyl ester products (resulting from hydrogenation of Z-alkyl α-acetamidocinnamate esters) trifluoro substitution in the alkyl alcohol moiety resulted in a decrease in optical purity to 52% ee-(R) [CH₂CF₃] compared to 72, 76 and 77% ee-(R) [Et, i-Pr and t-Bu, respectively].