IR and NMR experiments revealed that the enantioselective hydrogenation of ethyl pyruvate in nonacidic solvents is complicated by the simultaneously occurring self-condensation (aldol reaction) of the reactant. Both enantioselective reactions are catalyzed by the chiral base cinchona alkaloid, but the hydrogenation is faster by several orders of magnitude than the aldol reaction. Catalytic experiments proved that the aldol products are not spectator species. The enol form of the major aldol product protonates the quinuclidine N of cinchonidine and enhances the enantiomeric excess of the hydrogenation reaction. The significance of this observation with respect to kinetic and mechanistic studies is discussed.

The mechanism of enantiodifferentiation in the hydrogenation of alkenoic acids over cinchona-modified Pd has been investigated using the tiglic acid → 2-methyl-butanoic acid transformation as test reaction. Application of simple derivatives of cinchonidine, modified at the (C-9)–OH and/or the quinuclidine nitrogen, proved that both functional groups are involved in the enantiodiscriminating step. Addition of a strong base (1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene, DBU) to tiglic acid prior to hydrogenation revealed that one cinchonidine molecule interacts with a dimer of tiglic acid on the metal surface. Ab initio calculations corroborate the existence of an energetically favored acid dimer–cinchonidine intermediate stabilized by hydrogen bonding, involving both the OH and the quinuclidine nitrogen of cinchonidine.