Patent ID: 7446236

Claim:
A process for hydrogenating a substrate containing a carbon-heteroatom double bond, which includes the step of reacting the substrate with hydrogen gas in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst and of a base, wherein the hydrogenation catalyst is a transition metal complex of the formula (I) [X Y Ru (P R 1 R 2 R 3 ) (P-Z-N)] (I) where X, Y are each independently a hydrogen atom, halogen atom, C 1-8 alkoxy or C 1-8 acyloxy group, or a coordinatively bound organic solvent molecule containing at least one heteroatom having at least one free electron pair, in which case the charge of the resulting cationic complex is balanced by an anion, R 1 , R 2 , R 3 are each independently an alkyl, alkyloxy, alkylthio, dialkyamino, cycloalkyl, cycloalkyloxy, cycloalkylthio, dicycloalkylamino, aryl, aryloxy, arylthio or diarylamino group, said groups being unsubstitued or substituted by 1,2 or 3 radicals which are each independently selected from C 1-4 alkyl groups and C 1-4 alkoxy groups, or one of the R 1 , R 2 , R 3 radicals is as defined above and the remaining 2 radicals which, linked either via an oxygen bridge or directly to the phosphorus atom, form, including the phosphorus atom, an unsubstituted or substituted 4- to 8-membered ring, P-Z-N is a bidentate ligand which contains an sp 2 -hybridized nitrogen atom and is of the formula (II) wherein R 4 , R 5 are each independently a linear, branched or cyclic unsubstituted or substituted C 1-8 alkyl or C 2-8 alkenyl group; unsubstituted or substituted C 6-18 aryl, C 3-18 heteroaryl, C 3-8 cycloalkyl, (C 1-8 Alkyl) 1-3 -(Hetero)Aryl, whereby possible substituents are halogen, organohalogen group, O(C 1-8 )alkyl, N(C 1-8 alkyl) 2 ; or R 4 and R 5 together are a saturated or aromatic ring composed of 5 to 10 atoms including the phosphorus atom, C a , C b are each a part of an unsubstituted or substituted (hetero)aryl having at least 6 π-electrons, R 6 is a hydrogen atom, a linear, branched or cyclic unsubstituted or substituted C 1-10 alkyl or C 2-10 alkenyl group, an unsubstituted or substituted aromatic ring, a —OR 6′ or —NR 6′ R 6″ radical, wherein R 6′ and R 6″ are as defined for R 6 , R 7 is a hydrogen atom, a linear, branched or cyclic C 1-10 alkyl or C 2-10 alkenyl group, or an R 7′ CO or R 7′ SO 2 radical where R 7′ is a C 1-8 alkyl or aryl group, or R 6 and R 7 together are an unsaturated (hetero)cycle composed of unsubstituted or substituted 5 to 10 ring atoms, including the carbon and the nitrogen atom to which R 6 and R 7 are bonded, and including or not including further heteroatoms, whereby said substrate to be hydrogenated is a prochiral monocyclic or polycyclic aryl ketone or heteroary ketone, optionally substituted by linear or branched C 1-8 alkyl, C 1-8 alkoxy group, or halogen atoms.