Enantioselective Synthesis of Chiral Β-Hydroxy Sulfones Via Manganese Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation

Chiral beta-hydroxy sulfones are important building blocks and can be found in many bioactive compounds and pharmaceuticals. In this work, we realized the first example of manganese catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of beta-keto sulfones, affording various chiral beta-hydroxy sulfones with excellent yields (up to 97%) and good enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee). A gram-scale experiment was successfully conducted with lower catalyst loading and further transformations of products were also demonstrated.