Ureaphosphanes as hybrid, anionic or supramolecular bidentate ligands for asymmetric hydrogenation reactions

We report the coordination behavior of ureaphosphane ligand 1-[2-(diphenylphosphanyl)ethyl]-3-phenylurea (L1) towards different rhodium precursor complexes. Depending on the nature of the anion and the ligand/metal ratio, L1 acts either as a hybrid P,O-coordinating chelate, as an anionic P,N-coordinating chelate or as a supramolecular (hydrogen-bonded) bidentate ligand. The different types of complexes were investigated in the asymmetric hydrogenation of three olefinic substrates using ureaphosphanes L2 and L3, which are chiral analogues of L1. For methyl 2-acetamidoacrylate (S1) and dimethyl itaconate (S2) the neutral complex [Rh(L2-κ2P,N)(cod)], containing an anionic P,N-coordinating ureaphosphane ligand, provided the best enantioselectivity (69.2 and 24.3 %, respectively). For N-(3,4-dihydro-2-naphthalenyl)acetamide (S3) the best enantioselectivity was obtained with the cationic complex [Rh(L3-κ2P,O)(nbd)]BF4, containing a hybrid P,O-coordinating ureaphosphane ligand (86.1 %).