Kanto Kagaku Kabushiki Kaisha

Nagoya Industrial Science Research Institute

Hokkaido University

Kunihiko Tsutsumi

Kunihiko Murata

Takeaki Katayama

Noriyuki Utsumi

Ryoji Noyori

Takeshi Ohkuma

Masahito Watanabe

Takao Ikariya

Noriyoshi Arai

Taito Hatakeyama

Takeshi Okuma

Takeshi Ota

Methods are provided for producing an optically active secondary alcohol at a high optical purity by hydrogenating a substrate carbonyl compound at a high efficiency using as a catalyst a ruthenium complex bearing as a ligand certain optically active diphosphine compound and a readily synthesized amine compound. For example, aromatic ketones and heteroaromatic ketones are reacted with hydrogen and/or a hydrogen donating compound in the presence of the ruthenium complex.

Process for producing optically active secondary alcohol

The object of the present invention is to solve the problems in the prior arts, and to find more improved reaction conditions for suppressing the racemization of the product and obtaining an optically active alcohol at a high optical purity. The inventors achieved to solve the above problems by using a solvent system that is capable of resolving both an asymmetric catalyst and a formate salt, allowing the hydrogen source and the asymmetric catalyst to be present in the same phase.

Process for producing optically active alcohol

A novel ruthenium complex which is a highly efficient catalyst useful for the production of optically active 3-quinuclidinols, and a process for production of optically active 3-quinuclidinols using the ruthenium complex as a catalyst, where the optically active 3-quinuclidinols are useful as an optically active, physiologically active compound utilized in medicines and agrichemicals or as a synthetic intermediate such as a liquid crystal material.

Process for production of optically active quinuclidinols

A sulfonate catalyst represented by the formula below and a ketone compound are placed in a solvent, and the ketone compound is hydrogenated by mixing in the presence of hydrogen to produce an optically active alcohol. 

Sulfonate catalyst and method of producing alcohol compound using the same

Ruthenium complexes and process for preparing alcoholic compounds using these

Growing community of inventors

Soka, Japan

Kunihiko Tsutsumi