Metal-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones

Asymmetric hydrogenation of ketones (AHK) is the most efficient and straightforward method for the synthesis of chiral alcohols, which are key structural moieties in a wide range of natural products, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and functional materials. Chiral ligands played a very important role in the development of AHK and the history of the development of AHK is also the history of chiral ligands development. In this chapter, AHK with various transition metal catalysts was introduced. Rhodium, ruthenium and iridium are the most well-studied among these transition metals and they are described in more detail. AHK with earth abundant metals such as iron, cobalt, manganese, nickel and copper are also described. For each transition metal, we put the focus on the evolvement of ligands and metal catalysts.