Kanto Kagaku Kabushiki Kaisha

Nagoya Industrial Science Research Institute

Noriyuki Utsumi

Kunihiko Murata

Kunihiko Tsutsumi

Ryoji Noyori

Takeaki Katayama

Masahito Watanabe

Takeshi Ohkuma

Taito Hatakeyama

Takeshi Okuma

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

Growing community of inventors

Saitama, Japan

Noriyuki Utsumi