Pyranoside Phosphite–Oxazoline Ligands for the Highly Versatile and Enantioselective Ir-Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Minimally Functionalized Olefins. A Combined Theoretical and Experimental Study

A modular set of phosphite-oxazoline (P,N) ligands has been applied to the title reaction. Excellent ligands have been identified for a range of substrates, including previously challenging terminally disubstituted olefins, where we now have reached enantioselectivities of 99% for a range of substrates. The selectivity is best for minimally functionalized substrates with at least a moderate size difference between geminal groups. A DFT study has allowed identification of the preferred pathway. Computational prediction of enantioselectivities gave very good accuracy.