Asymmetric Hydrogenations of Acyclic α,β-Unsaturated Ketones with Chiral Frustrated Lewis Pairs (FLPs).

In this paper, we demonstrate a metal-free asymmetric hydrogenation of acyclic α,β-unsaturated ketones under the catalysis of a frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) comprising chiral oxazoline and achiral borane. A wide range of optically active α-substituted ketones were furnished in high yields with 26-85% ee's.