Modification
of supported noble metals with chiral modifiers is
a promising strategy for the design of effective heterogeneous chiral
catalysts. The chiral compounds are generally introduced on the surface
of noble metals, often leading to low enantioselectivity and to low
activity. Herein, a unique heterogeneous chiral catalyst where a chiral
modifier is introduced at the interface between the metal cluster
and the support is presented. Modification of CeO2-supported
Ir nanoclusters with 2-amino-2′-hydroxy-1,1′-binaphthyl
(NOBIN) as a chiral modifier provided a heterogeneous chiral catalyst
where NOBIN is introduced at the interface between Ir nanoclusters
and the CeO2 support. The heterogeneous chiral catalyst
enabled the asymmetric hydrogenation of acetophenone to provide 1-phenylethanol
with moderate enantiomeric excess (ee) (up to 53%). The catalyst characterizations
showed that about 1 nm Ir metal nanoclusters are formed on CeO2, and density functional theory calculations presented that
NOBIN is adsorbed onto Ir nanoclusters and CeO2 at the
NH2 and OH groups, respectively, constructing the asymmetric
reaction field among NOBIN, Ir nanoclusters, and CeO2.
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