A novel catalytic system for the hydrogenation of dimethyl itaconate has been developed by using rhodium–diphosphite complexes. These chiral diphosphite ligands were derived from glucopyranoside, d-mannitol derivatives, and binaphthyl or H8-binaphthyl phosphochloridites. The ligands based on the methyl 3,6-anhydro-α-d-glucopyranoside backbone and (R)- and (S)-binaphthol and/or (R)- and (S)-2,2′-dihydroxy-5,5′,6,6′,7,7′,8,8′-octahydro-1,1′-binaphthol gave almost complete conversion of the dimethyl itaconate and both enantiomers of dimethyl 2-methylsuccinate with excellent enantioselectivities. The stereochemically matched combination of methyl 3,6-anhydro-α-d-glucopyranoside and H8-(S)-binaphthyl in ligand 2,4-bis{[(S)-1,1′-H8-binaphthyl-2,2′-diyl]-phosphite} methyl 3,6-anhydro-α-d-glucopyranoside was essential to afford dimethyl 2-methylsuccinate with up to 98% ee. The sense of the enantioselectivity of products was predominantly determined by the configuration of the biaryl moieties of the ligands. An initial screening of [Rh(cod)2]BF4 with these ligands in the hydrogenation of (E)-2-(3-butoxy-4-methoxybenzylidene)-3-methylbutanoic acid was carried out. Good enantioselectivity (75% ee) and low yield for (R)-2-(3-butoxy-4-methoxybenzyl)-3-methylbutanoic acid were obtained.
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