Enantioselective synthesis of chiral β-hydroxy sulfones via manganese catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation

Abstract

Chiral β-hydroxy sulfones are important building blocks and can be found in many bioactive compounds and pharmaceuticals. In this work, we realized the first example of manganese catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of β-keto sulfones, affording various chiral β-hydroxy sulfones with excellent yields (up to 97%) and good enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee). A gram-scale experiment was successfully conducted with lower catalyst loading and further transformations of products were also demonstrated.