An extremely efficient route to highly enantiomerically enriched 2-methylsuccinamic acid via asymmetric hydrogenation has been developed. By using [(S,S)-Et-DuPHOS Rh COD]BF 4 as the precatalyst under a set of broadly optimised process parameters, (R)-2-methylsuccinamic acid was obtained in 96% ee at a substrate-to-catalyst ratio (S/C) of 100000 (average turnover frequency ∼13000 h -1 ). The exclusion of chloridecontaining contaminants in the substrate was found to be crucial in obtaining exceptionally low catalyst loadings. This material could be upgraded with a single-crystal digestion to yield (R)-2-methylsuccinamic acid in >99.5% ee containing less than 1 ppm rhodium.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.