Asymmetric hydrogenation of cyclic dehydroamino acids and their derivatives

Abstract

Chiral cyclic amino acids, possessing the unique structure and special properties, can be found in various chiral drugs and chiral catalysts as structural motifs. Transition-metal-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation, which has the advantages of high efficiency, environmental friendliness and atom economy, becomes the preferred method for the syntheses of such compounds. The related works on this field are reviewed for the first time in this paper. The catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of various types of cyclic α- and β-dehydroamino acids and their derivatives is introduced, and the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of transition-metal catalysts (including complexes of Ru, Rh, and Ir) are discussed. Thus a perspective is proposed for the future development.