Transfer hydrogenation is the movement of a hydride ion and proton (or two protons and two electrons) from a hydrogen donor to a substrate acceptor, effectively a disproportionation. In the case of hydrogenation, molecular hydrogen is the donor, and this topic is considered elsewhere in this Handbook. The substrate acceptor is unsaturated and can be, for example, a ketone, imine or alkene. The hydrogen donor is a good reductant and is often an alcohol, alkane or formate. The reaction is mediated by a catalyst that helps in the hydride transfer. When applied to ketones using isopropanol as the hydrogen donor and a Lewis acid to catalyze the reaction, the non-asymmetric transformation is known as the Meerwein-Pondorf-Verley reaction. Transfer dehydrogenation is the movement of a hydride ion and proton in the opposite direction. For alcohol substrates yielding ketone products, it is also known as the Oppenauer oxidation.If the catalyst is chiral, it can transfer hydride selectively to one prochiral face of an acceptor to provide an optically active product ( Fig. 35.1).A number of excellent reviews have recently been published [1]; consequently, this chapter will consider mainly the practical aspects of asymmetric transfer hydrogenation by reviewing each of the components of the reaction, namely catalyst, hydrogen donor, substrate, product and other elements such as solvent, reaction conditions and scale-up.In broad terms there are three types of catalyst for transfer hydrogenation: dehydrogenases; heterogeneous; and homogenous metal catalysts. Here, the first two are mentioned for completeness, and the main focus of this chapter will be asymmetric transfer hydrogenation with homogenous metal catalysts.Nature uses enantioselective transfer hydrogenation to reduce metabolites, for example pyruvate to give (S)-lactic acid and 2-ketoglutarate to give (S)-2-hydroxyglutarate. The reaction is reversible and the equilibrium position depends on the concentration of the species. The enzyme catalysts are named dehydrogenases, and they employ a soluble cofactor or hydride acceptor called NAD(P) in its oxi-
1215The Handbook of Homogeneous Hydrogenation. Edited by J. G. de Vries and C. J. Elsevier