A Novel Chiral Bisphosphine-Thiourea Ligand for Asymmetric Hydrogenation of β,β-Disubstituted Nitroalkenes

A novel chiral bisphosphine-thiourea ligand was developed and applied in the highly enantioselective hydrogenation of β,β-disubstituted nitroalkenes (up to 99% yield and 99% ee). With low catalytic loading (0.25 mol %), 98% ee and 98% conversion were obtained. The thiourea group takes on an important role in this catalytic system.