A highly efficient Rh-catalyzed hydrogenation of functionalized olefins has been realized by a new family of highly rigid chiral ferrocenylphosphine-spiro phosphonamidite ligands. Excellent enantiocontrol (>99% ee in most cases) was achieved with a wide range of α-dehydroamino acid esters and α-enamides. This practicable catalytic system was further applied in the scalable synthesis of highly optically pure key intermediates of cinacalcet and D-phenylalanine.

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Alcohols and nitrile derivatives are highly important skeletons, widely applicated in both organic and bioorganic chemistry. Cross coupling of alcohols and nitriles through formal conjugated addition is a powerful and...

The iridium/f‐diaphos L2 or L9 catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of β‐aryl β‐keto amides (esters), and β‐amino ketones to afford two enantiomers of the desired chiral alcohols was realized with 90%‐99% yield and 73%‐99% ee. This protocol could be easily conducted on gram scale in the presence of low catalyst loading (up to 9900 TON). Moreover, the hydrogenated products are versatile building blocks for a variety of biologically active molecules and drugs, such as Fluoxetine, Dapoxetine and so on.