Novel chiral ligands, diferrocenyl dichalcogenides and their derivatives, for rhodium- and iridium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrosilylation

As chiral ligands for transition metal complex-catalyzed asymmetric reactions, a variety of novel chiral ferrocenyl chalcogen compounds, which possess planar chirality due to the 1,2-unsymmetrically disubstituted ferrocene structure, have been prepared from chiral ferrocenes. There are seven diferrocenyl dichalcogenides (4-10), nine alkyl or aryl ferrocenyl chalcogenides (11-19), two bis(ferrocenylseleno)alkanes (20 and 21), two 1-(phenylchalcogeno)-1-[2-(diphenylphosphino)ferrocenyl]ethanes (22 and 24), and two 1-(phenylchalcogeno)-1-[1',2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocenyl]ethanes (23 and 25). 2,3-O,O'-Isopropylidene-2,3-dihydroxy-1,4-bis(phenylchalcogeno)butanes (26-28) are also synthesized. The Rh(I) complex-catalyzed hydrosilylation of ketones with diphenylsilane in the presence of these chiral ligands including the reported [R,S;R,S]-bis[2-[1-(dimethylamino)ethyl]ferrocenyl]dichalcogenides (1-3), followed by hydrolysis with dilute HCl, affords the corresponding chiral alcohols (R-configuration) in moderate to quantitative yield with up to 88% enantiomeric excess (ee), Similar treatment of acetophenone in the presence of diferrocenyl dichalcogenides (1, 2, 3, and 10) and a catalytic amount of Ir(I) complex gives chiral 1-phenylethanol of the opposite configuration (S) compared with the Rh case in high yield with up to 23% ee. The new complex prepared from a cationic rhodium compound and the diferrocenyl diselenide (2) shows an activity for asymmetric hydrosilylation of acetophenone to afford 1-phenylethanol in 60% chemical yield with 60% ee. Asymmetric hydrosilylation of imines and asymmetric hydrogenation of an enamide also proceed smoothly using the Rh(I)-diselenide (2) catalytic system to give the corresponding sec-amines and amide with up to 53% and 69% ee, respectively. A catalytic cycle involving the formation of tetracoordinated rhodium(I)-dichalcogenide complex (two Se and two N atoms to one Rh) followed by oxidative addition of the Si-H bond to Rh(I) and carbonyl addition to the produced rhodium(III) hydride complex is proposed for hydrosilylation of ketones.