Rh(I)/YanPhos-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydroformylation

Significance

Advances in ligand development continue to lead to improved catalytic processes, as shown by the asymmetric hydroformylation of alkenes using a Rh(I)/YanPhos catalyst system. A variety of alkenes, including vinyl acetate afforded branched chiral aldehydes in excellent yields and ee values. Nearly all of the results improve upon those obtained with BinaPhos (the most successful ligand for hydroformylations reported to date), with lower pressures and catalyst loadings used in all cases. As little as 0.01 mol% of the catalyst was used, and virtually no erosion of stereochemistry was observed upon extended reaction time, representing a great improvement over previous systems.