Preparation of pyridinyl aryl methanol derivatives by enantioselective hydrogenation of ketones using chiral Ru(diphosphine)(diamine) complexes. Attribution of their absolute configuration by 1H NMR spectroscopy using Mosherʹs reagent

Ruthenium–diamine–diphosphine complexes provide highly efficient catalysts for enantioselective hydrogenation of a series of pyridinyl aryl ketones. The hydrogenation proceeds under mild conditions providing chiral pyridinyl aryl methanol derivatives with consistently high yields and moderate to excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee) according to the structure of the chiral diphosphine. NMR studies, based on Mosherʹs ester derivatisation, allowed to determine the configuration of the major alcohol obtained during asymmetric hydrogenation.