Enantioselective hydrogenation

A method of stereoselective hydrogenation, comprising providing a substrate of the formula: wherein Cycl represents an unsaturated moiety being a five or six membered heterocyclic ring and the heteroatom is one of O, S, N or P; and R1 represents hydrogen or an achiral organic chemical group; reacting the substrate with hydrogen under pressure in the presence of a catalyst composition, the catalyst composition comprising: a metal hydrogenation catalyst on a support in the presence of a lithium salt. The substrate may be 2, 2-di-(2-furyl)propane and maybe present at more than 52% meso isomer. The metal hydrogenation catalyst is one or more of platinum, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium or nickel. The support is selected from carbon, alumina, silica, titanium dioxide, calcium carbonate, lithium aluminate and barium sulphate. The lithium salt may be lithium tetraborate, metaborate or their hydrates.