Development of new thiazole-based iridium catalysts and their applications in the asymmetric hydrogenation of trisubstituted olefins.

New thiazole-based chiral N,P-ligands that are open-chain analogues of known cyclic thiazole ligands have been synthesized and evaluated in the iridium-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of trisubstituted olefins. Chirality was introduced into the ligands through a highly diastereoselective alkylation using Oppolzer's camphorsultam as chiral auxiliary. In general, the new catalysts are as reactive and selective as their cyclic counterparts for the asymmetric hydrogenation of various trisubstituted olefins.