Synthesis of Enantiopure γ‐Lactones via a RuPHOX‐Ru Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation of γ‐Keto Acids

Abstract A RuPHOX−Ru catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of γ‐keto acids has been developed, affording the corresponding enantiopure γ‐lactones in high yields and with up to 97% ee. The reaction could be performed on a gram scale with a relatively low catalyst loading (up to 10000 S/C) under the indicated reaction conditions and the resulting products can be transformed to several enantiopure building blocks, biologically active compounds and enantiopure drugs. magnified image