Natural alkaloids and synthetic relatives as chiral templates of the Orito's reaction

The enantioselective hydrogenation of methyl or ethyl pyruvate over cinchona‐platinum catalyst system (Orito's reaction) is one of the most intensively studied heterogeneous catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation reactions. Studies aiming at systematic changes of the chiral template have played a crucial role in creating hypotheses for the mechanism of Orito's reaction. It is very important to clarify which structural unit of the alkaloid takes part in the enantiodifferentiation, and learn about the role of the different structural units of chiral templates. In this article, we made an attempt to describe the behavior of natural alkaloids, their synthetic derivatives, and analogues as chiral templates in the heterogeneous catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of activated ketones. Chirality, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.