Patent ID: 7265237

Claim:
A process for preparing hydrogenated prochiral olefins, ketones or ketimines, said process comprising asymmetrically hydrogenating prochiral olefins, ketones or ketimines in the presence of transition metal catalysts, wherein the transition metal catalysts comprise transition metals and ligands selected from the group consisting of compounds of the formulas I to IV: wherein Y represents oxygen or sulfur, and R is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, saturated and unsaturated linear and branched C 1 to C 50 alkyl, C 1 to C 50 aryl and heteroaryl groups; and R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 , R 6 , R 1′ , R 2′ , R 3′ , R 4′ , R 5′ and R 6′ are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, halogen, saturated and unsaturated linear and branched C 1 to C 50 alkyl, C 1 to C 50 aryl, C 1 to C 50 heteroaryl, alkynyl, silyl, nitro, nitrile, ester, carboxy, carbonyl, amide, amine, hydroxy, alkoxy, sulfide and selenide groups; wherein R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 , R 6 , R 1′ , R 2′ , R 3′ , R 4′ , R 5′ and R 6′ independently may themselves comprise further substituents or be functionalized; wherein X represents oxygen, sulfur or nitrogen, and wherein, when X=O or X=S, the substituents R 1 and R 1′ are omitted.