Well-defined chiral spiro iridium/phosphine-oxazoline cationic complexes for highly enantioselective hydrogenation of imines at ambient pressure

New chiral phosphine-oxazoline ligands (7, SIPHOX) with a rigid and bulky spirobiindane scaffold were synthesized, starting with optically pure 7-diphenylphosphino-7'-trifluoromethanesulfonyloxyl-1,1'-spirobiindane, in four steps in 40-64% overall yield. Iridium complexes of 7, the chiral analogues of the Crabtree catalyst, were generated by coordination of ligands 7 and [Ir(COD) Cl] 2 in the presence of sodium tetrakis-3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenylborate. The complexes were characterized by NMR, ESI-MS, and X-ray diffraction analysis. The Ir-SIPHOX complexes can catalyze the hydrogenation of acyclic N-aryl ketimines under ambient pressure with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee) and full conversions. This result represents the highest enantioselectivity and the first example of the hydrogenation of imines catalyzed by chiral analogues of the Crabtree catalyst at ambient pressure. Studies on the stability of the catalysts revealed that the catalysts Ir-SIPHOX are very stable and resistant to the formation of inactive trimers under hydrogenation conditions. On the basis of the X-ray diffraction analysis of the structures of catalysts and amine products, a rational explanation for the enantiocontrol of the chiral catalysts in the hydrogenation of imines is proposed.