Modular solid-phase synthesis, catalytic application and efficient recycling of supported phosphine–phosphite ligand libraries

Abstract

In spite of decades of research in the field of homogeneous asymmetric catalysis the discovery of new high performance catalysts still relies heavily on trial-and-error. There is still a lack of efficient combinatorial methods which enable the synthesis and screening of vast ligand libraries, especially for bidentate phosphorus ligands. Here we present a highly modular solid-phase synthetic approach which provides facile access to libraries of phosphine–phosphite ligands in quantitative yield requiring only minimal work-up. The obtained library of supported phosphine–phosphites was successfully applied in rhodium catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation obtaining high enantioselectivities up to 98%. Also, these polymer supported ligands could be successfully recycled under batch conditions exhibiting only a small decline of activity and no loss of selectivity.