Transfer Hydrogenation of Flavanones and ortho-Hydroxychalcones to 1,3-Diarylpropanols Catalyzed by CNN Pincer Ruthenium Complexes

The transfer hydrogenation of flavanones and ortho-hydroxychalcones catalyzed by ruthenium pincer complexes RuCl(CNNPh)(disphosphine) has allowed the synthesis of ortho-hydroxy 1,3-diarypropanols in 80--88^% yield, under mild reaction conditions and short reaction times (1^^h) in 2-propanol. The amount of the co-catalyst NaOiPr has been found crucial for the selective reduction of flavanones to ortho-hydroxy 1,3-diarypropanols vs. flavan-4-ols. Preliminary results show that with pincer catalysts bearing (S,R)-Josiphos, flavanone is reduced to the corresponding (S)-alcohol in moderate conversion (36^%) and up to 92^% ee.