A highly efficient enantioselective hydrogenation of polynitrogen heterocycle-substituted phenylacrylonitriles catalyzed by the Rh-f-spiroPhos complex has been developed. A series of chiral α- and β-polynitrogen heterocycle-substituted nitriles were obtained in high yields (up to 99%) with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99.9% ee). This method provides an efficient straightforward approach for synthesis of chiral polynitrogen heterocycles, which is one of the most important and prevalent structures in pharmaceuticals and natural products.
Zhu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.