Construction of three stereocenters via hydrogenative desymmetrization of 2,2,5-trisubstituted cyclohexane-1,3-diones

A Ru-catalyzed hydrogenative desymmetrization of 2,2,5-trisubstituted cyclohexane-1,3-diones was developed for construction of three stereocenters including two coherent and discontiguous chiral centers and a chiral quaternary carbon with excellent enantio-and diastereoselectivities.Stereodivergent synthesis of four stereoisomers could be conducted with high enantioselectivities.The desymmetrization could be achieved at gram scale without loss of reactivity and optical purity,and a formal synthesis of bioactive molecule(-)-isocelorbicol was completed.