Iridium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation of Unsaturated Piperazin-2-ones

Two different iridium catalyst systems, generated from the ruthenocene-based phosphine-oxazoline ligand tBu-mono-RuPHOX or the diphosphine ligand BINAP, were developed for the asymmetric hydrogenation of 5,6-dihydropyrazin-2(1H)-ones, affording chiral piperazin-2-ones in good yields and with moderate to good ees. Different catalytic behaviors for the hydrogenation of these types of substrate were observed with these two catalyst systems. Our tBu-mono-RuPHOX ligand, which bears a ruthenocene scaffold with planar chirality, was found to be the best ligand for the [Ir(L)(COD)]BArF catalyst system, affording the desired products with up to 94% ee. (Figure presented.).