Automated non-empirical search of the lowest transtion state by the scaled hyper sphere search method: application to a BINAP asymmetric catalyst

Abstract

Recently developed Scaled Hypersphere Search Method was applied to finding the lowest transition state leading to selection of the chirality's of the hydrogenation product of CH3COCH2COOCH3 by (R)-RuHCl-BINAP. Lower transition structures (TS) were systematically searched on the quantum chemical potential energy hyper-surface with a huge dimension of 285. Among 38 TS of R-Type and 10 TS of S-type, the lowest one is an R-type which was found to be considerably lower than those of S-type, which indicates the excellent ability of RuHCl-BINAP in the asymmetric synthesis.