Highly enantioselective synthesis of both enantiomers of tetrahydroquinoxaline derivatives via Ir-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation†

A novel Ir-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation protocol for the synthesis of chiral tetrahydroquinoxaline (THQ) derivatives has been developed. By simply adjusting the reaction solvent, both enantiomers of mono-substituted chiral THQs could be selectively obtained in high yields with excellent enantioselectivities (toluene/dioxane: up to 93% yield and 98% ee (R); EtOH: up to 83% yield and 93% ee (S)). For 2,3-disubstituted chiral THQs, the cis-hydrogenation products were obtained with up to 95% yield, 20 : 1 dr, and 94% ee. Remarkably, this methodology was also applicable under continuous flow conditions, yielding gram-scale products with comparable yields and enantioselectivities (dioxane: 91% yield and 93% ee (R); EtOH: 90% yield and 87% ee (S)). Unlike previously reported Ir-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation protocols, this system exhibited a significant improvement as it required no additional additives. Furthermore, comprehensive mechanistic studies including deuterium-labeling experiments, control experiments, kinetic studies, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations were conducted to reveal the underlying mechanism of enantioselectivities for both enantiomers.