Carboxylate-directed highly stereoselective homogeneous hydrogenation of cyclic olefins with Wilkinson's catalyst.

A highly efficient diastereoselective, carboxylate-directed homogeneous hydrogenation of cyclic olefins with use of Wilkinson's catalyst is described. Under the optimized reaction conditions, better than 99% de was achieved. The experimental protocol is very simple and readily amenable to scale-up.