Iridium‐Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation of Benzo[ b ]thiophene 1,1‐Dioxides

Abstract An efficient iridium‐catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation of substituted benzothiophene 1,1‐dioxides is described. The use of iridium complexes with chiral pyridyl phosphinite ligands provides access to highly enantiomerically enriched sulfones with substituents at the 2‐ and 3‐position. Sulfones of this type are of interest as core structures of agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, they can be further reduced to chiral 2,3‐dihydrobenzothiophenes.