Highly Enantioselective Desymmetrization of Centrosymmetric pseudo-para-Diformyl[2.2]paracyclophane via Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation

Herein we describe the desymmetrization of a centrosymmetric pseudo-para-diformyl[2.2]paracyclophane based on Noyori asymmetric transfer hydrogenations (ATH). The reduction proceeds smoothly in the presence of commercially available ruthenium complexes to afford a monohydroxymethylated product in good yields and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 74% isolated yield and 99% ee). Our approach is operationally simple and can be run in gram-scale without any significant loss in the reaction efficiency. This desymmetrization strategy allows an easy access to an enantiopure compound bearing on each aromatic ring of the pCp core different reactive groups suitable for regioselective orthogonal postfunctionalization.